After years of turbulence, Bungie’s Marathon launched on March 5, 2026, for PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox Series X/S – and the gaming world has been watching closely ever since. The game is Bungie’s first major new title since becoming a subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2022, and its first new project in over a decade following the Destiny series.
The road here was anything but smooth. In July 2024, Bungie underwent a restructuring that resulted in the layoff of approximately 17% of its workforce, affecting Marathon’s development timeline. Then, in May 2025, Scottish independent artist Fern “Antireal” Hook posted screenshots comparing in-game Marathon designs with her publicly posted designs from 2017, alleging they were used in an unaltered or highly similar form. The controversy forced Bungie and Sony into a plagiarism dispute, which was later reported as resolved in December 2025.
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Marathon is a first-person multiplayer extraction shooter set on the planet Tau Ceti IV in the year 2893, 99 years after the events of the original 1996 game. Human colonists from the UESC Marathon colony ship have gone dark following multiple alien attacks and biological agents. At launch, the game includes six Runner shells, 28 weapons plus mods and implants, three zones, Perimeter, Dire Marsh & Outpost, and earnable cosmetics tied to a narrative Codex system. On Steam, the Standard Edition is priced at ₹ 2,449.
The Numbers: A Mixed Picture
Based on Steam data from the last 24 hours at the time of this article’s publication, Marathon had over 45,000 concurrent players, vs 78,400+ from its peak. For context, competitor Arc Raiders has peaked at over 200,000 players, while Delta Force has peaked at over 160,000. It is not yet clear how many players Marathon has across Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5, and these console figures will take time to emerge.
Community Reaction
The Good: So far, player response to the core game has been notably warm. Marathon launched with a ‘Very Positive’ Steam rating, with nearly 90% of over 12,900 user reviews giving it the thumbs up. Players have praised its aesthetics and gunplay.
The Unfavourable: Several issues have drawn sustained community criticism. The game’s UI has been the loudest pain point, with Bungie acknowledging it plans to continue iterating post-launch to ensure players can easily navigate menus, read what is happening mid-fight, and manage equipment effectively.
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What Comes Next?
Ranked Mode and the endgame Cryo Archive zone aboard the derelict UESC Marathon ship are both set to go live in the second half of March. Bungie has confirmed that seasonal updates will be available to all players for free. However, the seasonal model has also been debated because each season resets players’ gear, contracts, and progress, effectively giving the community a fresh start every three months. However, Bungie stated that the system is designed to keep the game competitive and accessible for newcomers.
Sony acquired Bungie for $3.7 billion in 2022, and with Bluepoint Games recently closed, the stakes for Marathon’s success are considerable. Whether a strong content pipeline and responsive development can turn it into a loyal playerbase remains the defining question of Bungie’s next chapter.