Remember Marathon? It's the next big project from Destiny developer Bungie, and it seems we're on the verge of getting a deeper look into this much-anticipated game.
Marathon is a PvP-focused extraction shooter set on the enigmatic planet of Tau Ceti IV. In this game, players take on the roles of Runners, cybernetic mercenaries engineered to withstand the planet's harsh conditions, as they explore the remnants of a lost colony on Tau Ceti's surface.
It's been a while since we've had any updates on Marathon. In October, Bungie released an extensive development update video that provided insights into the game's mechanics, though it emphasized that Marathon was still in the early stages of development. At that time, player character models were still being refined, and enemy models were in their preliminary stages.
Now, six months later, it appears Bungie is ready to unveil more about what they've been working on. A tweet from the official Marathon account shared a cryptic image accompanied by garbled signal noise. Fans have spotted ASCII art resembling footage from the debut Marathon trailer. Given Bungie's reputation for mysterious teasers, hidden clues, and Easter eggs, there's likely more to uncover, and the community is already diving in to decipher it all.Regardless of the mysteries, it seems Marathon is finally making significant progress after what has been a challenging development period.
pic.twitter.com/6NBgIdRVK2
— Marathon (@MarathonTheGame) April 4, 2025
Marathon was announced in May 2023 as a reboot of the classic Bungie franchise, embracing themes of "mysteries, eeriness, and psychological creepiness." However, Bungie has faced its share of controversies in recent years, including the layoff of 220 staff members in July 2024, representing 17% of its workforce. This move drew criticism from industry peers and came less than a year after another round of 100 layoffs, which staff described to IGN as "soul crushing."
Further turmoil arose when a report surfaced weeks after the 220 job cuts, alleging that former Marathon director Chris Barrett was dismissed following an internal misconduct investigation at Bungie. Barrett later filed a lawsuit against Sony Interactive Entertainment and Bungie for over $200 million.
AnswerSee ResultsThese developments coincide with Sony's reevaluation of its focus on live-service games. Sony president Hiroki Totoki announced in November 2023 that the company would launch only six of the 12 planned live service games by March 2026, signaling a strategic shift that led to the cancellation of The Last of Us multiplayer game.While Arrowhead's Helldivers 2 became a breakout hit, selling 12 million copies in just 12 weeks and becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game ever, Sony's other live service titles faced either cancellation or disastrous launches.
Notably, Sony's Concord is considered one of the biggest video game failures in PlayStation history, surviving only a few weeks before being taken offline due to extremely low player counts. Sony ultimately decided to terminate the game and close its developer.
Earlier this year, Sony reportedly canceled two more unannounced live service games, one a God of War project at Bluepoint and another from Days Gone developer Bend.
