Marathon was supposed to be out months ago. Instead, its coming in March 2026. Bungie revealed the new launch timing in a surprise video documentary that went live on Monday in which the game’s developers promise a sci-fi survival extraction shooter that’s full of mysteries and hidden dangers.
The fresh 22-minute deep-dive goes over all of the elements of the project the studio’s been rehabbing since it was indefinitely delayed earlier this year following harsh fan feedback form its initial public alpha test. During that quiet period, Bungie’s held multiple closed beta tests to re-examine gameplay and introduced completely new features, including proximity chat. After becoming a cornerstone of this fall’s hit rival extraction shooter, Arc Raiders, the feature will now be a staple of Marathon as well.
The documentary also details the development team’s evolving approach to everything from audio and visuals to zone design and loot mechanics. The goal is clear: make Marathon‘s maps and the experiences that take place there have more of an identity beyond repetitive beats within a grindy, quick-match PVP shooter. “We’ve brought a little bit of grounded-ness, a little bit of grit, a little bit of darkness, a little bit of that mood, that kind of is necessary for an extraction shooter to feel dangerous,” said producer Emanuel Rosu.
The video goes on to address a bunch of other complaints players had from the original public alpha test. That includes prioritizing solo play options, improving the visuals, and even making it so that opponent runners leave corpses behind that decay instead of just having their dropped loot appear as static back packs. There will be four maps at launch, including an end-game area onboard UESC Marathon.
In addition to upgrade trees, faction ranks, and unlockable rewards, Bungie is also promising some level of gun customization to change how weapons play, letting players invent iconic gear from the studio’s past by doing things like changing an SMG into Halo’s Needler.
Marathon won’t be free-to-play
In a blog post, Bungie outlined what the game’s approach to monetization will be, including battle passes that don’t expire and no pay-to-win mechanics:
Purchasing Marathon will give you full access to the game, including a roadmap of free gameplay updates as the year progresses. This will include new maps, new Runner shells, events, and more, starting with the exploration of UESC Marathon’s Cryo Archive in Season 1.
We also want to ensure you are logging in because you love the game, not from fear of missing out—so Marathon’s Rewards Passes will not expire, and you’ll be able to purchase and unlock prior Passes.
Finally, and most importantly, we believe in preserving competitive integrity in Marathon, so survival will never come down to how much money you spend.
This is essentially the Helldivers 2 playbook, which served that smash-hit live service game well. As a PVEVP game, however, Marathon will face the additional challenge of balancing other hostile players with its bespoke world-building. We’ll see how that works in practice in just a few months.
