Changes to the Steam listing for Bungie’s upcoming game Marathon indicate that we might be getting pre-order details soon. While the Steam listing for Marathon has existed for quite some time now, a recent changed added a host of new “app types” to Steam’s backend.
While the SteamDB details on it are sparse, with the type being “Unknown”, them being listed alongside the base game for Marathon indicates that it might be various editions for the game, and even some DLC.
Traditionally, Bungie’s other major title, Destiny 2, has always launched its expansions alongside a host of different smaller DLCs, as well as with various editions that include the Annual Pass for that year. This could most recently be seen with the last major Destiny 2 expansion, The Final Shape.
This update to Steam’s backend would indicate that previous rumours about Bungie getting ready to reveal more details about Marathon might be closer to the truth. Back in February, Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb indicated that Bungie might be getting ready for a Marathon showcase event in April.
Speaking about Marathon being missing from Sony’s last State of Play showcase, Grubb spoke about Bungie traditionally doing its own things for its games, including special showcases for announcements.
“They’re probably going to do their own thing,” said Grubb. “Bungie does their own thing usually for Destiny, they’re going to adopt that same ‘We’re talking to our audience’ strategy this year as well, so I think April. We’ll probably hear from them about Marathon, and it would just be its own thing separate from a State of Play.”
In the meantime, Bungie has been continuing its playtests for Marathon. Back in October 2024, director Joe Ziegler spoke about expanding playtests for the game and bringing in more players to get more feedback.
He said that Bungie is “expanding our playtests a little bit wider and wider. We’re looking to add a significant amount of players to each of our milestones as we’re going forward, and some of these big inflections are opportunities for you all to join us.”
Bungie has been relatively quiet about Marathon since its release. October, however, saw the company reveal two of the game’s playable characters, dubbed Runners, through concept art. The two Runners, codenamed Thief and Stealth, will have their own unique abilities.
Some more details about Marathon could also be gleaned from a behind-the-scenes video that Bungie had released all the way back in 2023. The video focused on how emergent storytelling thanks to players’ actions would be a core component of the game.
While the upcoming game shares the same name as the classic shooter series, we don’t yet know how much of the storyline will be followed in Marathon. For those that might want to check out the older shooters, however, Bungie released the classic shooter trilogy on PC for free.
The original Marathon, as well as sequels Marathon 2: Durandal and Marathon Infinity can be played on PC through Steam. Revisiting the classic titles will also reveal to newer players just how many aspects of various Bungie games over the years first originated from Marathon, including concepts like AI Rampancy that played a big role in the Halo franchise.
