Although Bungie hasn’t officially confirmed any delay for Marathon, there’s already a major sign that things might not go as planned—and it’s not the first time this studio’s headlines have been far from positive.
Bungie’s attempt to revive the Marathon franchise has been anything but smooth. The project was announced in May 2023 and later pushed to 2025, partly due to mass layoffs at the studio. Last year, news broke that original game director Christopher Barrett had been dismissed for misconduct, replaced by Joe Ziegler (formerly of Valorant). Insiders like Tom Henderson quickly started casting doubt on the game’s prospects.
Last month, Bungie suddenly revealed a release date—September 23, 2025—along with new gameplay footage. But another scandal erupted just last week: the studio admitted to using assets from artist Antireal without permission. They’ve pledged to remove the assets and compensate the artist, but this controversy has only fueled speculation that a delay could be looming over Marathon.
On a subscriber-only Sacred Symbols+ podcast, former IGN journalist Colin Moriarty revealed: “A source familiar with marketing plans in a key overseas territory told me there are currently no plans to market Marathon at all. I don’t know if that’s because of recent events, or if it was always the plan, but it’s a strange move for such a high-profile release.”
Neither Sony nor Bungie can afford another high-profile disaster in the live service space. Sony already took a financial hit with Concord last year, not to mention the cancellation of The Last of Us Online…
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