Bungie changed how far away you could hear things – and is now walking it back.

Bungie has been reacting to player feedback at speed even before Marathon’s release: during the server load test, the studio pushed changes while making it clear it was tracking the topics the team kept hearing about. The game’s first major update landed just a few days ago and delivered several genuinely important, positive changes players had been waiting for, but it also slipped in one change nobody asked for – and which has now been rolled back. It was a single line in the patch notes: “Increased the audibility range of gunfire and explosions.”

It looked small on paper, but the impact was huge. Players started complaining that a single shot seemed to pull every squad on the map, wrecking the balance between Marathon’s tense exploration beats and its chaotic PvPvE fights. The result was that teams collided almost immediately, and you were either among the lucky survivors – or back in the lobby before you’d even had a chance to get your footing. Fortunately, Bungie kept listening, and the studio has confirmed it’s pulling the change back.

We’ve seen your feedback about the increased range at which you can hear other players in combat and are closely monitoring how it affects your runs. We recognize that this was an overcorrection and will pull things back in a way that maintains your ability to hear each other’s…

— Marathon Development Team (@MarathonDevTeam) March 13, 2026

“We’ve seen your feedback about the increased range at which you can hear other players in combat and we’re closely monitoring how it affects your runs. We recognize that this was an overcorrection and will pull things back in a way that maintains your ability to hear each other’s actions without it feeling excessive. We’re still aligning on how to ensure the best player experience and will deploy changes in an upcoming update,” Marathon’s developers wrote on Twitter.

Shout out to everyone for giving us active feedback on the patch notes and changes!

Re: the audio broadcast distance change, we originally wanted to give everyone more info in the map and make it easier to make choices around audio: where people are, what’s happening on the…

— Ziegler (@Ziegler_Dev) March 13, 2026

Game director Joe Ziegler added more context in his own tweet: “We originally wanted to give everyone more info in the map and make it easier to make choices around audio – where people are, what’s happening on the map, whether to run toward danger or away from it – but we’re hearing we pushed it too far, and we want to reduce the range in an upcoming fix. This change should still keep some of that benefit, but within a distance that feels more comfortable and intuitive for everyone. Please keep the feedback coming. Even if we’re not actively changing something right now, I can assure you everything is being cataloged and reviewed (it’s a big list).”

At least the developers aren’t ignoring the feedback.

Source: WCCFTech