The makers of Destiny have announced that beleaguered online shooter Marathon is to be delayed beyond this autumn, in Sony’s latest live service disaster.
It’s been predicted for some time now, given the poor response to its various playtests, but developer Bungie has now confirmed that Marathon will miss its previously announced release date of September 23.
The extraction shooter has been widely criticised for not being as challenging as leading genre titles such as Escape From Tarkov but at the same time being too much for casual fans, effectively pleasing no one.
Bungie has acknowledged this, saying: ‘We know we need more time to craft Marathon into the game that truly reflects your passion.’ There’s no new release date but with no more news updates planned until the autumn, it seems to have missed its chance to launch in 2025.
‘The Alpha test created an opportunity for us to calibrate and focus the game on what will make it uniquely compelling – survival under pressure, mystery and lore around every corner, raid-like endgame challenges, and Bungie’s genre-defining FPS [first person shooter] combat,’ reads the official annoucement.
‘We’re using this time to empower the team to create the intense, high-stakes experience that a title like Marathon is built around. This means deepening the relationship between the developers and the game’s most important voices: our players.’
More closed tests are planned ‘over the next few months’, with Bungie focusing on ‘upping the survival game’ with new loot and more challenging AI encounters, in an attempt to make combat ‘more tense and strategic’.
Expert, exclusive gaming analysis
Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning.
They’re also promising a better experience for solo and duo players, as well as proximity chat. The visuals will also be improved, with a darker tone that ‘delivers on the themes of the original trilogy.’
The original three Marathon games were Mac exclusives, released in the mid-90s, before Bungie hit it big with Halo. Although there’s no formal connection with the Xbox games, the gameplay and multiplayer modes are similar, with the concept of AI rampancy shared between both series.
At the moment, there’s little obvious connection between the new Marathon and the old ones, while there’s been considerable controversy over Bungie plagiarising an online artist for the game’s distinctive art style.
Although Bungie is currently owned by Sony the game is intended to be released simultaneously on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC.
Marathon is the latest in a long line of live service failures for Sony, who once claimed they would release at least 10 such titles by 2026. The only success they’ve ever had is Helldivers 2, with everything else either being delayed or cancelled – with Concord being the most infamous failure.
Despite so many disasters, Sony has repeatedly insisted that live service titles will remain a major focus, at the continuing costs of its single-player output.
Since Sony acquired Bungie to not only make its own live service games, but to help advise on other studios’ titles, the continued problems have raised concerns about the future of Bungie itself.
Poor management has consistently been blamed for the problems at Bungie, with Forbes contributor Paul Tassi suggesting that many Bungie developers only found out about the Marathon delay at the same time as fans.
Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.
To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.
For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.