Bungie delays Marathon indefinitely, reveals plan for improvements

When Destiny 2 and Halo creator Bungie first announced that it was returning to Marathon, the '90s sci-fi FPS trilogy that established the studio, the basic idea presented an intriguing prospect. The original games have a rich setting and strong narrative that would be novel to see explored further. Every piece of fresh news regarding the project, though, tempered that excitement, from learning that the new game would be a live-service extraction shooter rather than a story-focused campaign through to art plagiarism allegations and a closed alpha that left early players unconvinced. Now, instead of aiming for its intended launch this September, Marathon has been delayed indefinitely.

When we last heard news about Marathon, Sony Interactive CEO Herman Hulst acknowledged the underwhelming alpha response, but didn't announce any plans to delay the FPS game as a result. That changed today, with a development update posted on Bungie's official website.

"Through every comment and real-time conversation on social media and Discord, your voice has been strong and clear," it reads. "We've taken this [feedback] to heart, and we know we need more time to craft Marathon into the game that truly reflects your passion."

The post goes on to officially announce Marathon's delay, explains that Bungie will "continue closed testing (including participants from the Alpha) to deploy gameplay updates and test new features as they come online," then describes "immediate focus areas" for improvement. These include "more challenging and engaging AI encounters; more rewarding runs, with new types of loot and dynamic events; making combat more tense and strategic;" and much more related to aspects like enhancing the game's narrative and social features.

"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," the post offers, by way of providing a revised launch timeline.

While you wait to hear more about Marathon, there are plenty of other great options like it to play in the meantime you can find through our picks of the best multiplayer games and best space games already out on PC.

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