Marathon game director Joe Ziegler has stepped down and left Bungie a short two months after the developer announced its final update for fellow FPS Destiny 2. His last day at the company was July 17.
Former Destiny 2 design lead Del Chafe III will take over as game director with help from Marathon's current creative director Julia Nardin. Ziegler writes in a Twitter announcement, "Both of them have been operating in a strong leadership capacity for the team and are ready to guide Marathon into the next chapter with an even better and brighter future." Marathon launched in March with a peak concurrent player count of 88,337, according to Steam DB, and its current player count as of writing is 6,775.
Nardin told GamesRadar+ earlier this summer that Marathon's team already knew "where we want to take the story over the next few years," so, at least publicly, Bungie looks ready to invest in Marathon as it leaves Destiny 2 in a sad, comatose state. But the fact that the shooter has gone from nearly 90,000 simultaneous players to under 10,000 is a foreboding one.
Hey everyone I've got a bit of an announcement to make. Today, Friday 7/17, will be my last day at Bungie and I'll be passing the torch of Game Director to the very capable and amazing hands of Del Chafe III, who will guide the game forward alongside the Creative Director Julia…July 17, 2026
"I just want to say a deeply heartfelt thank you to all of you for supporting me and Marathon in our windy mission to bring a dark and terrifying space survival frontier to your screen," Ziegler says. "The mission will continue in new and surprising ways so stay tuned for what this team has in store for you!" The developer says he will "be heading to something new, somewhere else" with updates to come "soon."
"Hopefully as I move onto new things, you'll join me for those adventures as well," he adds.
Bungie has recently been shedding employees like cat hair – it laid off "most" of its Destiny 2 team in a massive sweep, and while PlayStation CEO Herman Hulst swore to staff at the time that Marathon "remains an important part of our portfolio, and we will continue to support the team," some of its devs were also impacted by layoffs. Following those layoffs, Bundie studio head Justin Truman reportedly stepped down from his position after less than a year.
"Working at Bungie was the most toxic, dysfunctional experience of my professional life," former narrative lead Michael Zenke, who left Bungie in 2017, remarked after Destiny 2's death knell update was announced. Ziegler's sudden departure from Marathon after a now seems like evidence of this. You can't enjoy a home with a crumbling foundation.
