Bungie’s struggles grow more evident as Marathon undergoes a handful of drastic changes, with a move away from seasonal content, a focus on PvE, and a significant delay for the game’s next update.
Bungie confirmed today that Marathon’s next major update, which was slated to release on September 22, will now arrive on December 8. This update will add permanent PvE content, a social space with a firing range, an experimental TDM mode, and much more. On October 6, the game will get a smaller update that resets progression and the in-game economy to prepare for an overhaul.
Bungie noted that it is also moving away from traditional seasonal content updates in order to give the team more time to work on new content. The studio has also been made aware of feedback with regards to keeping players hooked via more depth, variety, and stronger progression, and is actively working to implement changes to respond to that. All in all, it’s clear that Bungie is trying its very best to save Marathon amidst major struggles.
Marathon failed to impress players when it launched earlier this year and has only sunk further in the last few months. To make matters worse, Bungie also killed support for its biggest game, Destiny 2, in order to focus more on Marathon. It was a controversial move, and so far, it doesn’t seem to be paying off. A swath of players have already written off Marathon, and Bungie’s attempt to change the game’s identity by moving away from the extraction elements likely won’t change minds.
The next big update will be launching just a few weeks after Grand Theft Auto 6 and about two months after the release of Modern Warfare 4, which will have its own expansive extraction component known as DMZ. It’s unclear what’s in store for the future of Bungie outside of updates to Marathon, as the studio doesn’t have anything in full-blown, active production at the moment. Hopes for Destiny 3 were quashed earlier this summer when Bungie laid off a sizable number of developers who were working on Destiny 2, as well.
