"We don't expect Marathon to become Destiny 3": Bungie reckons "if you are a Destiny player who's not really interested in any PvP," Marathon is "probably not the game for you"

A Runner in full gear running in front of a blue wall during the Marathon game PS5 reveal. — (Image credit: Bungie)

Bungie's upcoming sci-fi extraction shooter Marathon isn't aiming to replace Destiny, and in fact, its director is very open about the fact that Destiny players who are only into PvE experiences might not vibe with the new game at all.

In an interview with GamesRadar+, Marathon game director Joe Ziegler talks about the process of onboarding players from Destiny, noting that "there's some differences" between the two, with "some barriers" that the devs "can help smooth out." However, "I think there's other things that maybe we can't," he adds, "just to be 100% honest."

Ziegler explains: "I think part of it is we don't expect Marathon to become Destiny 3. Our goal is not to basically make a new product that replaces Destiny 2. We believe that Destiny 2 has a future, and the team working on it has been working really hard to understand what players' needs are. But if you like Destiny, and you happen to like a lot of PvP sandbox experiences, and those are other games that you play, then we think that that Marathon could be something very exciting for you."

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Admittedly, Ziegler continues, Destiny players may have "a certain advantage" in Marathon since "our weapon systems tend to be a little bit similar," but equally, "there's just enough change where I think you're gonna have to relearn some of that curve as well."

That doesn't mean that every Destiny fan is going to adore Marathon and everything it has to offer, though. "If you are a Destiny player who's really not interested in any PvP at all, it's probably not the game for you, because there's gonna be PvP interactions that occur," the game director warns. "At some point, someone else who is a player is gonna come across you and shoot you."

He later doubles down: "I think if you are only looking for PvE experiences, definitely Marathon is not the game for you. [...] We are very comfortable saying, yeah, this isn't a game for everybody. This is a game for: if you like PvP experiences, especially in sandbox spaces, then this is probably something you're gonna enjoy."

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I'm GamesRadar+'s Deputy News Editor, working alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.