Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier shares a troubling outlook on Bungie’s Marathon, describing the the studio sentiment as “not great.” Amid recent layoffs and project cancellations, concerns are growing about the game’s future.
The future of Bungie’s highly anticipated extraction shooter, Marathon, is looking uncertain, according to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier.
During the latest episode of Friends Per Second podcast, Schreier, who has broke major stories about Bungie in the past, didn’t mince words when asked about the state of Marathon.
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“Not great, from what I’ve heard,” Schreier said when asked about the sentiment around Marathon. “There’s a reason it was planned for this year and slipped a whole year.”
“People that I’ve talked to are a little pessimistic about it even hitting its current planned deadline, but we’ll see. I don’t know exactly when that is, sometime in 2025, I’m not sure.
“Yeah, the sentiment I’ve heard is not great at least as of a few months ago.”
Just last week, the Destiny 2 developer announced a staggering 17% reduction in its workforce, amounting to around 220 job cuts. This drastic move was accompanied by news that Bungie had shelved a Destiny spinoff project codenamed Payback. Notably, the spinoff was led by veterans Luke Smith and Mark Noseworthy, who have also exited the studio.
Adding to the uncertainty, Schreier also revealed that Marathon underwent a significant leadership shakeup in April 2024, with former director Christopher Barrett and the game’s Executive Producer both leaving Bungie.
Related: Marathon’s Art Style is Inspired by Mirror’s Edge, Ghost in the Shell, says Art Director
Following a report from IGN, it has been officially confirmed that Joe Ziegler, the former game director of Valorant, has taken the helm as the new game director for Marathon.
Under Ziegler’s leadership, the creative direction of the game has reportedly shifted, moving away from custom player characters toward a more defined, selectable cast of heroes.
Watch the full episode of the FPS podcast below:
Bungie has not yet revealed any new details about Marathon apart from the initial reveal in 2023. With so many unknowns and internal challenges, fans of Bungie and Marathon might need to temper their expectations for now.
