Keep in mind Marathon? It’s Future developer Bungie’s subsequent recreation, and it seems to be like we’re about to lastly see extra of it.
Marathon is a PvP-focused extraction shooter set on the mysterious planet of Tau Ceti IV. Gamers inhabit the our bodies of Runners, cybernetic mercenaries who’ve been designed to survive the planet’s harsh environments, exploring the misplaced colony that after inhabited Tau Ceti’s floor.
It has been a while since we noticed or heard of Marathon. In October, Bungie launched a prolonged growth replace video that make clear Marathon’s mechanics, however confused how early in growth the recreation was. Participant character fashions have been, at that time, nonetheless “coming collectively,” whereas enemy fashions have been nonetheless in an “early state.”
Now, although, half a 12 months later, it seems to be like Bungie is lastly prepared to reveal what it’s been engaged on. A tweet from the official Marathon account, under, revealed a sometimes cryptic picture and accompanying garbled sign noise. As followers have seen, there’s ASCII artwork of footage from the debut Marathon trailer. Given that is Bungie we’re speaking about, a developer recognized for its mysterious teasers, hidden clues, and Easter eggs, there’s most likely rather more right here to uncover, and fans are already working to find out what it all means.
Both means, it very a lot seems to be prefer it’s lastly taking place for Marathon after what has been a troubled growth.
— Marathon (@MarathonTheGame) April 4, 2025
Marathon was revealed in Could 2023 as a reboot of the basic Bungie franchise, however with all its themes of “mysteries, eeriness, and psychological creepiness.” However Bungie itself has suffered a number of controversies in recent times, headlined by the shedding of 220 employees members, that means 17% of its workforce, in July 2024: a transfer even business friends criticized.
This got here lower than a 12 months after 100 different layoffs at Bungie, at which level employees instructed IGN the environment was “soul crushing” at the studio.
Additional controversy got here when a report launched weeks after the 220 job losses alleging former Marathon director Chris Barrett was fired after an inside misconduct investigation at Bungie. Barrett subsequently sued Sony Interactive Leisure and Bungie for greater than $200 million.
This all comes as Sony rethinks its deal with live-service video games. Sony president Hiroki Totoki mentioned in November 2023 the firm was dedicated to launching simply six of the 12 reside service video games it was engaged on by March 2026, in a shift in technique that noticed The Final of Us multiplayer recreation cancelled.
Whereas Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2 was a breakout hit, turning into the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios recreation of all time with 12 million copies offered in simply 12 weeks, Sony’s different reside service video games have been both canceled or suffered disastrous launches.
Certainly, Sony’s Harmony is one among the greatest online game disasters in PlayStation historical past, lasting simply a few weeks earlier than it was introduced offline amid eye-wateringly low participant numbers. Sony later determined to kill the recreation solely and shut its developer.
And earlier this 12 months, Sony reportedly canceled two unannounced reside service video games, one a God of Conflict title in growth at Bluepoint, the different in the works at Days Gone developer Bend.
Wesley is the UK Information Editor for IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You’ll be able to attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.