What time does Marathon launch?

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Here's when you can start playing Marathon on launch day

Marathon Rook scavenger frame cinematic UESC robots
(Image credit: Bungie)

The Marathon launch time is almost here, with Bungie's sci-fi extraction shooter launching on March 5. That means there's just about still time to pre-order the game and even pre-install it to ensure you're ready to go when Marathon goes live. With that, here's everything you need to know about when you'll be able to play Marathon and its release time.

When does Marathon go live?

Marathon launch times global map

(Image credit: Bungie)

Marathon launches at 6PM UTC on March 5 on PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC via Steam. This launch time translates to the following time zones:

  • US Pacific: March 5 at 10AM PST
  • US Eastern: March 5 at 1PM EST
  • UK: March 5 at 6PM GMT
  • Central Europe: March 5 at 7PM CET
  • Australia: March 6 at 5AM AEDT
  • New Zealand: March 6 at 7AM NZDT

Marathon preloading is also available, meaning that if you've pre-ordered the game, you can set it installing now so that it's ready for 6PM UTC – you can also safely delete the server slam build too. But bear in mind that when the client on your platform of choice, you might not be able to get in right away, particularly on Steam, as the game will need to decrypt and unpack.

As an experienced Destiny 2 player who has weathered many expansion launches, I also need to warn you that you may encounter server issues and Marathon error codes as lots of players pile into the game after launch. Given that the Marathon server slam seemed to go relatively smoothly, the launch should go relatively smoothly, but it’s impossible to predict these things.

Marathon playstation-themed weapon charms from Ghost of Yotei, Death Stranding 2, and Helldivers 2

(Image credit: Bungie)

While nothing from the server slam carries over into the full game, you might have some fancy rewards waiting for you when you log in too. Depending on how much you accomplished in the server slam, you might have some reward packs to give you a bit of a head start.

Furthermore, if you play on PS5 with a PS Plus subscription, you'll get three exclusive PlayStation game-themed weapon charms: Onryo (Ghost of Yotei), Battle Guitar (Death Stranding 2), and For Freedom (Helldivers 2). If you play Marathon on Steam on launch day, you'll instead get the crowbar weapon charm as a nod to Half-Life. And Xbox players can get the Emerald Clutch and Emerald Catch charms, which seem to just be green things. There's also a new set of Marathon Twitch Drops focused on everyone's favorite pink robot cat to celebrate the game's launch.

Catch up on the essentials:Marathon tips and tricksMarathon charactersMarathon weaponsMarathon factions:

Catch up on the essentials:
Marathon tips and tricks: Knowledge is power
Marathon characters: Pick your Runner
Marathon weapons: Arm yourself for Tau Ceti
Marathon factions: Megacorp employers

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Will Sawyer
Will Sawyer
Guides Editor, GamesRadar+

Will Sawyer is a Guides Editor at GamesRadar+ with over five years of experience in writing online guides, news, and features, and has a BA (Hons) in Journalism. Starting as a freelancer, Will contributed to startmenu and Game Rant before joining the GamesRadar+ team in August 2021. Since then, he has written hundreds of guides about a huge range of games, with shooters and action games being his areas of expertise. Outside of writing about games, Will hops between multiplayer shooters with friends, such as Darktide and Helldivers 2, and delves into whatever has been on his backlog for far too long. He also tries to get through his never-ending Warhammer pile of shame of grey Tyranids, Aeldari, and Chaos Space Marines.

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