Remember Marathon? It's the next big project from Destiny developer Bungie, and it seems we're on the cusp of seeing more of this eagerly awaited game. Marathon is shaping up to be an exciting PvP-focused extraction shooter set on the mysterious planet of Tau Ceti IV. In this game, players take on the roles of Runners—cybernetic mercenaries engineered to withstand the planet's unforgiving conditions—as they explore the remnants of a lost colony.
It's been a while since we last heard about Marathon. Back in October, Bungie shared a comprehensive development update video that provided a glimpse into the game's mechanics. However, they emphasized that Marathon was still in the early stages of development. At that time, player character models were still in the process of being finalized, and enemy models were described as being in a preliminary state.
Fast forward six months, and it appears Bungie is gearing up to unveil more of what they've been working on. A recent tweet from the official Marathon account teased fans with a cryptic image and accompanying garbled signal noise. Eagle-eyed fans quickly spotted ASCII art from the debut Marathon trailer hidden within. Given Bungie's reputation for intricate teasers, hidden clues, and Easter eggs, there's likely much more to uncover, and the community is already diving in to decipher the message.
pic.twitter.com/6NBgIdRVK2
— Marathon (@MarathonTheGame) April 4, 2025
Marathon was first announced in May 2023 as a reboot of the classic Bungie franchise, promising to delve into themes of mystery, eeriness, and psychological creepiness. However, the development has been anything but smooth. Bungie has faced its share of controversies, including the layoffs of 220 staff members in July 2024, which amounted to 17% of its workforce. This move drew criticism from industry peers and came less than a year after another round of 100 layoffs, which left the studio's atmosphere "soul-crushing," according to staff who spoke to IGN.
Adding to the turmoil, a report surfaced weeks after the 220 job cuts, alleging that former Marathon director Chris Barrett was fired following an internal misconduct investigation. Barrett later filed a lawsuit against Sony Interactive Entertainment and Bungie, seeking over $200 million in damages.
These developments come at a time when Sony is reevaluating its focus on live-service games. In November 2023, Sony president Hiroki Totoki announced a strategic shift, stating that the company would only launch six of the 12 live service games they had planned by March 2026. This shift led to the cancellation of The Last of Us multiplayer game.
While Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2 achieved remarkable success, becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game with 12 million copies sold in just 12 weeks, other Sony live service games have either been canceled or experienced catastrophic launches. For instance, Sony’s Concord turned out to be one of the biggest video game disasters in PlayStation history, lasting just a couple of weeks before being taken offline due to extremely low player numbers. Eventually, Sony decided to terminate the game and shut down its developer.
Earlier this year, Sony reportedly canceled two unannounced live service games: one a God of War title in development at Bluepoint, and another at Days Gone developer Bend.
