Bungie has debunked a huge Marathon leak claiming F2P plans, new PvE modes, a Destiny merger, new systems, and faction changes after it spread online.
Yesterday, an anonymous 4chan post threw out a long list of alleged Marathon plans, including a switch to free-to-play in December, a six-player PvE mode called Investigations, a faction-based PvP experiment called Risk Management, a new Runner shell named Shrike, Flash Drives that alter builds, and a possible attempt to connect Marathon and Destiny under one timeline.
The source was not identified, and the post supplied no evidence for any of it.
Some of those claims sit close to things Bungie has already announced. Earlier this week in a new development update, Bungie said the December 8 Symbiosis update will add Marathon’s first permanent PvE experience, a new Runner shell, a refreshed Perimeter, a social space with a firing range, and an experimental Team Deathmatch mode.
Bungie has not announced the names Investigations, Risk Management, or Shrike, and its Symbiosis post does not say Marathon is going free-to-play. The anonymous post appearing alongside known roadmap details gives it plenty of material to build around without proving access to anything internal.
Marathon creative director has now killed one of its largest claims.
Bungie Responds to Wild Marathon Leak
Marathon creative director Julia Nardin responded to the leak earlier today, one day after the anonymous post began circulating, and she directly called its proposed Marathon and Destiny merger fake.
Nardin said the two games share plenty of Bungie DNA but remain “independent entities,” before warning people not to believe everything they read online.
“As someone who’s worked on both Destiny and Marathon, I can confirm that the ‘leak’ about us merging the two IPs is fake,” the statement reads. “They share a lot of the same Bungie DNA, but like siblings they’re also their own independent entities. Please don’t believe everything you read online.”
Her response technically addresses one claim from a much larger post. In practical terms, though, it puts the credibility of the entire thing through the floor.
The anonymous poster didn’t present the Destiny merger idea as speculation separate from everything else. It appeared in the same supposed batch of internal information as claims that Sony ordered Bungie to make Marathon free-to-play in December, that former Destiny developers had been rehired (which appears to be true at least in one case), and that unused Destiny 3 concepts were being folded into Marathon.
According to the post, Bungie had even been “testing the waters internally” on turning Marathon into the beginning of humanity’s Golden Age and using it to set up threats for a future Destiny project.
As for where things stand for Marathon, the game recently hit a new record low player count, even lower than the biggest live service flop, Concord (during off-peak hours), and all eyes are now at the big December update.
What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments below!
