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Bungie's upcoming survival extraction shooter Marathon hasn't had the easiest time since it was announced in 2023, with the developer suffering layoffs the following year, and in 2025, releasing a poorly received alpha that featured plagiarized art – which ultimately led to the game being indefinitely delayed in June. But here we are, closing out 2025 with a possible redemption arc for Marathon, which has finally locked down a March 2026 release date and $40 price tag.
I should say, I'm using the term "release date" loosely here, as we don't actually have a specific date yet. Thanks to a new Bungie ViDoc video, we know the game is coming at some point in March, but we'll have to wait a little longer for the exact release date.
Anyway, the 23-minute video gives a really thorough overview of what Marathon's all about, and it's also got plenty of new gameplay footage, so if you're interested in this series revival, it's well worth a watch. In the video, Bungie also details a few of the key ways Marathon's been revamped since its public alpha, with learnings implemented from that test, as well as several closed betas that have happened since.
Chiefly, Marathon is embracing one of Arc Raiders' more distinguishing features: proximity chat, which will let players communicate via voice chat when they're physically near one another in maps. Other oft-requested features that'll be available at launch include a solo queue and a new Runner shell called Rook.
Bungie is wisely taking a pretty clear and explicit stance against pay-to-win with Marathon, making it clear in an accompanying blog post that "survival will never come down to how much money you spend." The studio also says your $40 will get you "full access" to the game including a roadmap detailing all sorts of free updates that'll drop throughout the year. The game's battle, er, Rewards Passes, meanwhile, won't expire and will be available for purchase even when a new pass releases, hopefully avoiding the sense of FOMO that accompanies so many online games these days.
This all sounds great, and it definitely seems like Bungie took a lot of feedback on-board since the alpha earlier this year, but we'll see how it all plays out in another few months.
