Marathon has been delayed as Bungie commit to building on player feedback
Bungie has announced the delay of Marathon, their upcoming extraction shooter. The game will no longer release on 23rd September, and no new date has been given by Bungie for the game’s release.
“Through every comment and real-time conversation on social media and Discord, your voice has been strong and clear,” the team writes in a Marathon Development Update. “We’ve taken this to heart, and we know we need more time to craft Marathon into the game that truly reflects your passion. After much discussion within our Dev team, we’ve made the decision to delay the September 23rd release.
“The Alpha test created an opportunity for us to calibrate and focus the game on what will make it uniquely compelling—survival under pressure, mystery and lore around every corner, raid-like endgame challenges, and Bungie’s genre-defining FPS combat.
“We’re using this time to empower the team to create the intense, high-stakes experience that a title like Marathon is built around. This means deepening the relationship between the developers and the game’s most important voices: our players. ”
The blog post also highlights areas that the studio is looking to improve before the game can be fully released, and which will be put under the microscope in upcoming testing. These include:
- Upping the Survival Game
- More challenging and engaging AI encounters
- More rewarding runs, with new types of loot and dynamic events
- Making combat more tense and strategic
- Doubling down on the Marathon Universe
- Increased visual fidelity
- More narrative and environmental storytelling to discover and interact with
- A darker tone that delivers on the themes of the original trilogy
- Adding more social experiences
- A better player experience for solo/duos
- Prox chat, so social stories can come to life
Bungie likely won’t give further updates on the game’s development for the next few months, as they say, “You’ll hear from us again later this Fall when we can share the progress we’ve made, alongside the game’s new release date. Thank you again for your patience and— much more importantly— your passion. Your continued feedback will help us make Marathon the incredible gaming experience we all know it can be.”
A lot is riding on Marathon for the Bungie team and PlayStation alike, as console maker looks to avoid having another ignominious flop of a live service title – Concord, of course, was a huge financial write down when the game was released, quickly pulled from shelves, and shut down last year. Bungie has endured rounds of layoffs over the last year, following the launch of Destiny 2: The Final Shape, with numerous projects cancelled or spun-off after a couple years of underperforming profits. With the initial reaction to Marathon since the gameplay reveal being rather mixed, Sony has put on a brave face for the game’s future, but it makes sense that the game is delayed to try and stick the landing.
The problem, of course, is that a delay could see Marathon miss the boat even further and fail to capitalise on the interest that there is in a new extraction shooter.
We look forward to seeing more later this year.
Source: Bungie
