It’s been a very bad rollout for the Sony-owned Bungie’s Marathon. Without diving too deep into it all again, Marathon has been incredibly controversial online. Poor reception to the game’s alpha, a general distaste towards live service games and a shocking plagiarism and art theft scandal have all rocked the studio over the last few months. Discourse and criticism exploded online, especially in relation to the admitted plagiarism of an artist’s designs and assets, which led to a free-fall of morale at Bungie. Somehow, Sony just tried to spin that into a good thing with their investors.
Speaking on Marathon to their investors, CEO of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst described the game as an “innovative and bold take on the extraction shooter genre”, which was followed up with a presentation slide that describes the Marathon discourse as “strong early engagement for Bungie’s bold and innovative new title.” There was certainly a lot of engagement online with Marathon, but not the kind you’d want to present to your investors.
Along with the hilarious spin on Marathon‘s online engagement, Sony also reaffirmed that Marathon will release in the 2025 fiscal year – this means any time during or before March 2026. The outrage at the plagiarism scandal, mixed with the poor early impressions of some gameplay elements, had many expecting or at least hoping for a delay to address the issues and reassure the community of their commitment to making a good experience. It’s currently set to release on September 23, but if Sony’s ensuring a release still within this fiscal year, there isn’t much room to delay should Marathon need more work done as so many have been hoping for.
Do you think it’s accurate to describe the Marathon conversation as “strong early engagement”, or would you perhaps phrase it differently? Do you think Marathon needs a delay? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below, and keep your eyes on GameLuster for more Marathon news and gaming updates.
