It took a little over nine months for Bungie to land in another cluster of increasingly awful proportions. Eight, if you count the month that Marathon, its upcoming extraction shooter, was revealed, promising a whopping three maps, six playable characters, and a yet-to-be-revealed price tag. You would think the company would become more stable after eliminating 220 roles in August 2024, or at least keep its head down and not make any more poor decisions to drag itself in the public light.
Yet, here we are, with Marathon art director Joseph Cross apologizing on a recent livestream for the game using assets taken from an independent artist in-game without her permission. He said there was “absolutely no excuse for this oversight” and the team is “100 percent committed” to its review process to ensure this won’t happen again, both for Marathon and at Bungie. Like when it “mistakenly” used fan art in a cutscene for Destiny 2’s Season of the Deep or when its Ace of Spades replica produced in collaboration with NERF was lifted almost entirely from another independent artist’s commission. This time, for sure, guys.
There are other examples, but at least on Marathon, the sheer extent of quote-unquote thievery is such that the team wouldn’t show anything in its latest livestream until all assets are thoroughly vetted. Keep in mind that Bungie was already facing criticism from the recent closed alpha, never mind decisions like not implementing proximity chat or implementing a queue for solo players or the entire mess that is the Contracts system.
Things are seemingly worse behind the scenes. New reports by Forbes’s Paul Tassi indicate that morale is in a “free-fall” with employees concerned about the studio’s future if Marathon fails. Perhaps the most interesting part is that even before this controversy, Bungie had reportedly overhauled its marketing strategy for the game. June would apparently see the debut of a new trailer and pre-orders opening; an open beta was allegedly set for August. That’s all reportedly down the drain now. Instead of a beta, the studio seems to be planning a “public playtest roadmap.” Don’t worry about not knowing what that entails. It’s still apparently being figured out.
If all this wasn’t bad enough, Tassi reported hearing that Marathon’s success hinged on being in the NPD’s top five best-selling titles of the year (meaning US-only). Think of the sheer skepticism surrounding it since the April reveal. Reflect on everything that’s gone down in the past few days. Now think about the current most successful titles of the year like Monster Hunter Wilds, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, to say nothing of other major upcoming releases like Elden Ring Nightreign, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Ghost of Yotei, Mario Kart World, and Donkey Kong Bananza. To even reach that same level of success, that too for an extraction shooter embroiled in controversy and poor showings, is a tough ask.
It would be something if all these troubles for Marathon were recent, but they’re not. Christopher Barrett, who previously served as director on the project, was fired last year following allegations of inappropriate behavior. Joe Ziegler of Valorant fame would replace him, but several months later, reports emerged from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier that the sentiment around the project was “not great.” Those he spoke to were even skeptical whether it would hit its 2025 deadline. Considering its current state and the whole “build it alongside the community” attitude that Bungie has touted, you have to wonder how bad things were a year prior.
There’s also the studio’s history of workplace toxicity, and Marathon is apparently no different. A former senior software engineer who worked on the title said on BlueSky, “Working with engineering / Marathon leadership was extremely toxic and humiliating. I won’t speak about the rest, but Bungie leadership needs to be gutted completely.”
Even last year, with the layoffs, they described leadership as the “worst I’ve worked with,” riddled with “rampant micromanagement, frequent toxicity and violations of their core values, and no ability to execute on their multi-franchise vision.” Nothing that Destiny fans haven’t heard for years at this point, but it’s damning all the same.
With all this backlash, it’s possible that Marathon could be delayed, if not cancelled, potentially to prevent another Concord-level disaster. And while I don’t think Sony will go that far yet, even after it shelved numerous live-service projects, it could pursue several alternative avenues, like taking over Bungie entirely.
In 2023, reports emerged that if the studio failed to hit its financial targets by “too great an amount,” Sony could dissolve the board and assume control over its operations. Whether this results in improvements to the studio and not more layoffs is unknown, but Bungie isn’t offering much choice. Leadership can only shoot itself in the foot so many times before Sony takes the gun away out of sheer pity.
Of course, Bungie could do what it always does when its back is against the wall. Delay the game, implement features players really want, and keep communication open while further polishing. It needs to showcase something that will help Marathon stand out like Prismatic somewhat did for Destiny 2: The Final Shape. Something to garner attention and fuel some positive enthusiasm. If there are any cards it’s been keeping close to its chest, now is the time to reveal them.
The problem is that it may not be enough. Look no further than reports that The Final Shape, which, despite winning the hearts and minds of critics and players alike, sold less than Lightfall. The extent of this is unknown, but it was enough for Bungie to abandon its traditional annual expansion model, instead opting for two smaller expansions each year.
Is there any hope for Marathon at this point? Even if it reaches the alleged sales required to become a success, the post-launch is a completely different ballgame. With everything that’s happened thus far and Bungie leadership being what it is, will players hang around to spend more money on the title? Will it consistently receive quality content and features to cater to such a specific subset of PvP players? Could it implement a PvE mode to attract more casual players? What about its seasonal story-telling? Will the narrative and lore evolve into something worthwhile? It was a painful journey to provide some semblance of a post-launch support cycle for the Destiny series, and there are still lessons being learnt over a decade later.
Regardless of the answers, Bungie needs to do something and fast. We can discuss wanting Marathon – or any live-service effort – to fail, the urge to say “I told you so” rising with each piece of bad news. Cautious optimism is also an option, though it ignores so much of the concern around the development, never mind the long-term issues surrounding leadership.
However, the real killer is apathy. When there are so many other games vying for a player’s attention – and competition receiving more positive feedback, as seen with Embark Studios’ recent tech test for ARC Raiders – the signature Bungie gunplay can only do so much to generate interest. And unlike with its previous titles, falling back on strong art direction isn’t an option.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
