Bungie is actively hiring roles for its upcoming extraction shooter Marathon, which appears to be nearing its final stages before launch.
September 23 was originally set as the launch date for Bungie’s Marathon, the studio’s first new project in over a decade. But after delaying the game earlier this summer, players were left waiting to hear when exactly they can jump in.
Many fans were hoping for an update during yesterday’s PlayStation State of Play showcase, but that clearly wasn’t the case as there were no new announcements related to Marathon during the presentation. According to a report from Forbes contributor Paul Tassi, it looks like the earliest we may hear more is November, and even that isn’t a sure thing.
So, where does that leave Marathon? Right now, Bungie has kept the game quiet, running closed NDA-protected playtests every month. But there are signs development is heading toward the finish line.
Bungie is actively hiring for Marathon
On Bungie’s career site, The Game Post noticed that out of the 15 open roles currently listed, seven are directly for Marathon. These range from engineering, animation, lighting, UX design, and even brand management, covering everything from technical systems like anti-cheat to the visual polish players will see on-screen.
What’s especially interesting is a recent LinkedIn post from Chris Butcher, Bungie’s Engineering Director for the Tiger Engine (used by both Destiny and Marathon). He highlighted one of the Marathon job listings, writing:
“We are seeking a senior gameplay engineer on the Marathon team to help us build the last few features before launch. If you love player progression and loot-type games, this is a fun team to join!“
That phrasing, “last few features before launch,” is the clearest hint yet that Bungie sees Marathon as nearing the launch window. Bungie has also said it plans to reveal the new release date for the game sometime this fall, which lines up with the November timeframe mentioned in Tassi’s report.
While fans wait for Bungie to break the silence, there’s been plenty of chatter from playtests. The Game Post’s own reporting has covered everything from a 30-day paid remote test with daily surveys, to
“Playtest 3” earlier this month, which, based on our sources, has added a ton of improvements to the game, including better exteriors, details on all of the Runners, and the UESC Marathon ship map called Cryo Archive.
We also reported that proximity chat, one of the most requested features, is now live and working in-game. And if you’re curious about what’s changed in Marathon since the Closed Alpha, we’ve put together an exclusive report going over all the major and minor changes made since then.
What do you think? Are you excited to play Marathon? Let us know in the comments below!
