I really wish there was any bit of good news or a general positive vibe around Bungie’s upcoming shooterMarathon,but it’s just about all terrible right now.
After an utterly lackluster alpha test,Marathonand Bungie have been thrust into even more negative limelight followingyet another plagiarism incidentat the studio, and it may serve to be the proverbial nail in the coffin for the game over four months before it even launches.
Forbes reporter Paul Tassiechoed what many in the industry (and those who have played it) have been feeling since the alpha, and it’s thatMarathonisn’t going to succeed. It’s just not. And as if it couldn’t get any worse, the game’s impending failure could have a cascading impact on Bungie’s other game,Destiny 2, which seemingly does have a future and some good vibes going within its community.
“This will hurt Bungie and its actual healthy child,Destiny,” Tassi said ofMarathon’sassumed flop. “There will be layoffs. There will be Sony takeover of leadership as they bail out with millions in vested cash.”
The impact ofMarathonflopping, a game that likely has tremendous internal expectations at both Sony and Bungie, will undoubtedly affect the rest of the company, and this could mean delays, cancelations, or just plain chaos spreading within the studio and having an adverse effect onDestiny 2as well. And that just sucks.
TassiexpandedonMarathon’sbig expectations and very low chance of reaching them in a YouTube video, stating he heard from sources within Bungie that the game needs to be a top-five title in 2025 to be considering a success. That just isn’t happening, and that likely wasn’t happening even before the alpha and plagiarism fiasco. That sort of forecast likely was never possible, regardless of the game’s potential, and is just the latest example of unrealistic expectations for games when it comes to profitability.
Destiny 2, meanwhile, has hype behind it. Bungierecently announceda whole year of content in the game, includingThe Edge of FateDLC in July andRenegadesin December, along with two more expansions coming in 2026. It’s even gotten the Lucasfilm stamp of approval forRenegades,aStar Wars-inspired story, and the game got some shiny new skins to prove it.
It would really, truly suck to seeDestiny 2take the brunt ofMarathon’sfailure, especially considering how exciting the game’s new expansion and direction seems to be looking, and that’s without even getting into the unfortunate truth that jobs and lives at the studio will be affected ten-fold.
Marathon’scollapse would be a low-point for Bungie, which could mean a low-point forDestiny,of which the franchise has already had several. And after that, I really don’t know what happens at the studio next, but it won’t be good.
