After controversy and criticism of the new shooter from the Destiny developers, Marathon was postponed indefinitely in the summer of 2025. Now, however, there is news about the development status.
Marathon has set itself the goal of making the extraction shooter genre accessible to as many players as possible.
Destiny developer Bungie presented its new game in more detail this year, but stumbled from one blunder to the next: first, the aim assist on PC caused controversy, then Bungie was accused of stealing an artist’s designs. Later, reports of mismanagement at Marathon also came to light.
Finally, the studio announced that it would no longer release the shooter in September 2025 as planned, but would postpone it indefinitely.
After several months of complete silence, there is now a sign of life again.
Testing continues
In a blog post, the developers now explain that closed testing has continued since June to gather feedback and further improve the shooter. Now, even more players are to be invited to participate in a technical test.
Anyone who wants to participate must fill out a form and then wait for an invitation. Patience is required: invitations will be sent out in waves during the test.
The test phase runs from October 22 to 28 and includes three maps and five playable heroes, known as “Shells.” Bungie also provides an insight into what has changed in recent months: they promise improved pacing for the battles and deeper environmental storytelling.
Although impressions from the closed test remain confidential and we shouldn’t expect any new trailers or gameplay videos, Bungie has already made plans. In the months following the test, there will be a public update on the development status of Marathon. Perhaps a new release date will also be announced then.
If you want to learn more about Marathon, we’ve compiled some information for you above. Our shooter expert Phil took a close look at the game a few months ago and was far from certain at the time whether Bungie could really achieve great success in the extraction genre. The two articles below explain the additional problems behind the scenes that are complicating development.
