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It’s something I called out in my review, way back when. Those who sought a hardcore extraction shooter experience with exceptional polish and excellent gunplay would be best served. As punishing as matches could feel due to the UESC bots and the smaller map size, which made it easier for players to collide; as non-social as playing solo felt, instead likened to a survival horror experience (especially if you’re Rook); and as awful as the menus felt, it occupied a niche between ARC Raiders and Escape From Tarkov. It felt as focused and confident with its gameplay as its setting did with all the moths and fonts. There was depth to build on – new directions that it could go in.

And none of it has meant a damn thing for the game’s actual player numbers.

Over four months later, we’ve arrived at the middle of Season 2: NIGHTFALL. You’ll probably recall our post-mortem report, two weeks into the season – how it reached 40,686 concurrent players during its free week, and quickly plummeted right back down…is what I want to say. In reality, it fell even further, dropping below 7,000 concurrent players on Steam.

However, the new PvE mode is here: Vault Breaker. In a way, this is Bungie addressing multiple criticisms at once. It gives solo players and teams who don’t want to deal with others rocking end-game loot a chance to immerse themselves in the genuinely great Cryo Archive. Progression is bespoke and relies on a roguelike formula. You enter the map with a special Sponsored Kit, pick up a Vault Key Card, locate said vault, find the terminal with the corresponding symbol, and voila. All the while, you’re dealing with UESC troops, who can quickly overwhelm you.

Once you’ve gone inside and gathered Vault Indexes, you can choose to exfil or proceed to the next Vault, repeating the process. The catch is that things get even tougher as you go along. Meanwhile, the timer is still in effect, and if you don’t leave before it runs out, you get nothing.

Any loot found can be used in that run alone. So while it may be an uphill climb to gain a foothold against the UESC, it follows the roguelike pattern of becoming stronger as the run progresses. This works especially well in Marathon’s case, not just because of different weapon rarities but due to how attachments work. Find enough higher rarity barrels, scopes, and mods, and you can turn a Common weapon into something more potent.

As soon as you leave, say goodbye to that precious loot because it’s not going with you. Instead, any Indexes collected can be converted into Tier 1 Vault Data. This is used to upgrade your Sponsored Kit and make that starting loadout decidedly less terrible. Henceforth, you stand a better chance at the start, wiping out the UESC in quicker fashion, and gaining access to superior items. The fact that you can start with an Enhanced Shield, and not be at the mercy of RNG when it comes to something better, is a huge advantage unto itself.

Maybe you’ll be able to push deeper into the Archive and eventually go up against the Compiler, the toughest threat in the game. Maybe you’ll retreat and attempt it with better odds. And maybe you’ll play just enough of Vault Breaker to purchase weapons that can be used in other modes. All we need now is for it to be offline and – what’s that? PlayStation says no? Well, if it was worth a try.

So with all this glowing praise for this mode, limited-time as it may be – and leaving aside all the PvP balance changes – there’s just one problem: Player numbers remain pitiful. Presently on Steam, Marathon peaked at 14,809 concurrent players in the past 24 hours. Less than half of Season 2’s start. In fact, these are pretty similar Destiny 2 numbers, which led to its end of support, and the irony of it offering a much bigger PvE experience by comparison is not lost on anyone.

But hey, surely Destiny 2 isn’t doing fantastic numbers either, especially since it’s been over a month since its final content update…aaannddd it’s currently peaked at 55,602 players on Steam. Don’t get me wrong – the peaks are becoming lower, and enthusiasm is definitely starting to wane, but this is also a game that’s been on Steam since October 2019. Marathon is fresher, and even if it’s not going to convert all those veteran Guardians into would-be Runners, you would think a larger number of people would want to check out this new PvE mode.

Heck, with this lull in ARC Raiders’ player base, thanks to Embark changing its plans to two major content updates every year, you would think that now would be a great time to try Marathon, especially since the former lacks a dedicated PvE mode. The latter is even discounted, costing $28 instead of the usual $40. At this stage, what else could Bungie possibly do?

More importantly, what does PlayStation expect at this point? Is laying off over half the studio and focusing only on this singular project meant to prove less of a loss over time? Sure, it’s not incurring as many expenses from keeping the lights on in Bellevue, but has Marathon broken even in terms of costs, assuming reports of its $200 to $250 million budget are true? Is it able to sustain current costs?

To top all of this off, just days before the mid-season update went live, game director Joe Ziegler announced that he’s leaving Bungie. Such departures in the middle of a live-service title’s life cycle aren’t unheard of – see Joe Blackburn leaving months before the launch of Destiny 2: The Final Shape. But even if Ziegler has been on Marathon for years and is pursuing greener pastures (hopefully), losing your director mere months after launch isn’t the best look, no matter how you slice it.

Others were already in place to take over, and the ship will likely keep running as usual, but right now, it feels like we’ve already seen the best that Bungie could offer in this space. Even leaving aside the top five most-played games in the world, or how crowded the genre is already, its direct competition has secured some runway for the future. Can the same be said for Marathon? Should fans be concerned that its current roadmap is only up to Season 3, which begins on September 22nd?

Does the development team have anything else beyond a reworked Perimeter, a new Runner Shell, and some new loot to chase? Or some new gimmick that could put an interesting spin on the current gameplay? What about new maps or an expansion to Cryo Archive?

Hardcore players may stick around to see how this years-long story plays out, but as Destiny has proven multiple times, Bungie is capable of driving them off, sometimes permanently. It’s almost like the mistakes made with its biggest franchise, and perhaps the most important live-service game of all time, have continued to haunt the studio, except with even fewer avenues to bring new players into the fold, and much less room for failure.

There’s another famous saying about history, and how those who don’t learn it are doomed to repeat it. Bungie could very well break the cycle and kill its troubling past, opening up new horizons of success, but I fear, more tragically, that regardless of what it does, Marathon is ultimately doomed. And all that’s left for everyone left in this rapidly evaporating puddle is to enjoy its depths while it lasts.

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.

At the start, players will pick up Cryo Key 01 or 02 and battle past the UESC hordes to find a Vault. Once opened, pay attention to the weird symbols on the walls and find the corresponding terminal. Once inside the Vault, you can loot different items, including Tier 1 Indexes. From there, you can opt to extract or continue looting more Vaults.

Running out of time renders everything null and void, but even if you exfil, none of the loot goes with you. Instead, the Indexes (now converted to Data) must be spent to improve your Vault Breaker Sponsored Kit. Those upgrades – including starting with an Enhanced Shield Implant and Vault Credentials – persist between runs. Delve far enough, and you may have a face-to-face with The Compiler.

Of course, you can also spend Vault Data to purchase gear and weapons to use in other modes. Even for those who don’t care about PvE, there’s some incentive to care about Vault Breaker. Head here for more details.

“Both of them have been operating in a strong leadership capacity for the team and are ready to guide Marathon into the next chapter with an even better and brighter future,” says Ziegler. “As for me, I’ll be heading to something new, somewhere else, and will update you on where and what soon.”

While this sounds like he’s moving on to greener pastures, potentially at another game development studio, it’s not exactly the best look for Marathon. Besides facing its own layoffs, the extraction shooter’s player numbers have absolutely cratered on Steam. The last time it averaged above 10,000 concurrent players was on June 27th, and Season 2: NIGHTFALL faltered in sustaining interest, even with the free week.

Of course, support continues, as the new Vault Breaker PvE mode launches on July 21st. It sees groups of one to three Runners venturing into Cryo Archive, opening Vaults to recover Data and enhance special Sponsored Kits for better chances at future runs. You can also unlock other rewards, including Prestige Weapons, that can be used in other modes.

Despite only being available for two weeks, there are plans to bring a full PvE mode in Season 3 this September. That’s alongside changes to Perimeter and other new content, including a new Runner Shell. After that, time will tell, so stay tuned.

Duos and Trios matchmaking is available alongside the option to go in solo, and in a new preview, Bungie has outlined how the rogue-lite progression works. Upon obtaining Vault Data, you can spend it in the new Vault Breaker Armory tab.

Tier 1 Vault Data can be obtained by killing UESC Commanders and will remain even if you die. But it’s also found in Vaults, which must be exfilled. Furthermore, the real reward, Tier 2 Vault Data, requires looting multiple Vaults in a row and then extracting, which is a tough ask. But succeed, and there are Deluxe weapons, Prestige Weapons, and more to look forward to while the event is on until August 4th.

It also goes towards upgrading your free Sponsored Kit, upgrading it further and offering new paths for improved weaponry, implants, core, and more. Hence, the term “rogue-lite.”

Will it be enough to revive interest in Marathon or draw in new players? Time will tell, so stay tuned when update 1.15 goes live. And lest we forget, Season 3 is on track for September 22nd with a revamped Perimeter and new Runner Shell on the way.

The news comes from a report by Game File, which has drawn on information from a notice to the Washington State Employment Security Department from Sony. Of course, that number doesn’t account for employees from locations outside of Washington, but it’s quite a grim situation, affecting people across various teams, like art, technical departments, audio and sound, engineering, production, integrated support, and system design.

Several impacted employees were folks working on Destiny 2, thanks to a recent statement from Herman Hulst himself, while rumors of Justin Truman stepping down are becoming increasingly true. Additionally, there is speculation that Jason Jones, one of the studio’s co-founders, might also be impacted, since one of the reported layoffs is the company’s Chief Vision Officer. Jones is known for keeping a low profile, but he did appear in a video promoting Destiny 2, where the title is attributed to him.

We’re keeping a close eye on this one, and as much as we hate to be the bearers of bad news, you can be sure that we’ll tell you more as soon as possible. Of course, Marathon, despite also suffering some layoffs, will continue, with its next major update planned for July 21st and Season 3 hitting on September 22nd.

Before succeeding previous CEO Pete Parsons, Truman has worn many hats on Destiny 2, serving as a development lead and a gameplay experience director before becoming chief development officer. However, his experience with the company stretches even further back as he worked on Halo: Reach and then the original Destiny.

Truman became studio head in August 2025, which means he spent less than a year in the role. With PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst noting that “most” of the Destiny team facing layoffs, it’s probably a given that someone with such a huge background in the series would leave.

The question now is who will step into the role, and whether PlayStation will be much more heavily involved. Hulst already hinted at Marathon being a larger focus, though that team is apparently incubating other exciting projects. At this point, there isn’t much else to do but wait for more details.

As for Marathon, its next big update arrives on July 21st, adding a PvE version of Cryo Archive called Vault Breaker. The team also announced that Season 3 would go live on September 22nd and add a new Runner Shell and overhaul the Perimeter map with new encounters and whatnot.

According to Hulst, the decision was made “only after extensive discussion and careful consideration.” “Over the past several months, together with Bungie leadership, we reviewed the studio’s long-term direction, development priorities, resource needs, and role within our broader portfolio strategy. We explored multiple alternatives before concluding that a reduction was necessary to align the studio’s resources with its current priorities and long-term goals.”

Praising the franchise as a whole, he noted that Bungie would begin a “new journey” after the recent final content update for Destiny 2. Whether that means a new project or something else remains to be seen. According to reports before this announcement, Destiny 3 is not in development.

As for Marathon, Sony considers it an “important part of our portfolio,” and Hulst says it will “continue to support the team as they build on the strong foundation established in Season 1 and 2, and as they work on incubation efforts for future projects.” The latter is seemingly “too early to discuss”, but the company is “encouraged by the creativity and opportunities that lie ahead.” Potential spin-offs or something else entirely? It would certainly be an interesting option to explore, especially since the extraction shooter hasn’t exactly been setting the charts on fire or hitting record player counts, at least on Steam.

Regarding those facing layoffs, Hulst said, “We are providing transition support and, where possible, working to identify opportunities across SIE and our global network of studios.” This is similar to what happened in June 2024 when 155 roles from Bungie were integrated into PlayStation, resulting in new studios like teamLFG.

We may only know the extent of layoffs in the coming months, so stay tuned, but based on previous reports, they’re looking to be “significant.”

“As the leaders of Bungie, past and present, we recognize Destiny 2 fell short of expectations these past several years. Following our final content update to Destiny 2, and with our future projects still in early incubation, we unfortunately could not continue operating at our previous size,” it stated.

While aware of the “profound impact” this would have on those laid off, leadership noted that the changes “are necessary to best position the studio now and for the future.” Further details will be revealed at an unknown date.

Bungie didn’t divulge the number of layoffs, but Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier claims that they’re “significant.” Other reports allege that 50 percent of the studio will face layoffs, which would bring its apparent size of 850 employees as of June 2024 down to roughly 425, if not lower.

Keep in mind that the current headcount is after mass layoffs following the disappointing performance of Destiny 2: The Final Shape. Of course, these reported reductions are far from confirmed, but as it stands, expect major changes at the studio going forward.

And for those hoping that Destiny 3 could help its fortunes, reports indicate that it’s not in production. Destiny 2’s servers will remain available for the time being, but while Monument of Triumph has provided more than enough to keep fans satisfied for the time being, there won’t be any major fixes or changes for the foreseeable future. As always, stay tuned for further updates and details on the studio in the coming months.

If you’ve ever wanted to delve into Cryo Archive but hated facing other teams, Vault Breaker is essentially a PvE version. You’ll take on “progressively challenging” vaults with a unique progression system that helps you get stronger over time.

There are multiple caveats, though. You can only enter with a Vault Breaker Sponsored Kit, and can’t exfil anything but Vault Data. The latter is used to purchase gear for regular PvEvP, and can also be used to upgrade the unique Sponsored Kits for better odds.

Other notable changes include the Cradle Evolution system to essentially Prestige it and unlock new Runner Shell skins and one additional max Energy point. Players can also finally look forward to profile stats, showcasing their history as a Tau Ceti IV nuisance.

But that’s not all, as Season 3 is confirmed for September 22nd. It adds a new Runner Shell, weapons and equipment alongside an overhaul of Perimeter. It could be thematically relevant as Bungie promises new locations, encounters and mechanics, but other surprises also await in the season, so stay tuned.

But one of the more interesting stories out of this whole ordeal is Marathon. When Bungie announced that its flagship looter shooter would no longer receive new content…well, some fans didn’t take it very kindly, and resorted to review-bombing the extraction shooter (which wasn’t enough to really drag down its Steam score but still). A small dispute of sorts broke out as many encouraged boycotting Marathon.

This all made for an awkward launch to its second season, NIGHTFALL, on June 2nd. In terms of new content, it added a night version of Dire Marsh, imaginatively titled Night Marsh. And while it did offer several new additions, from oppressive darkness that required light sources to new enemy types, the real appeal was seemingly in the new limited PvE mode, where a squad with Sponsored Kits could occupy the map for the first several minutes before Rooks, a Runner Shell meant for solos, began backfilling.

Even with all the uproar around Destiny 2, and thanks in part to a free week, Marathon crawled back up to just under 41,000 peak concurrent players on Steam. Of course, this is still a massive drop from nearly 89,000 concurrent players when it launched in March, but surely this momentum—with all these changes, new features, and loot—would hold…right?

"Even with all the uproar around Destiny 2, and thanks in part to a free week, Marathon crawled back up to just under 41,000 peak concurrent players on Steam."

Well, no. Two weeks later, and Marathon is slowly sliding back down to where it was before Season 2’s launch. Yikes.

There are several ways of looking at this, of course. The market is overly saturated with online games, especially in the free-to-play space where most want to stick with their comfort picks. The season’s release timing – the same day as State of Play – coupled with Destiny 2‘s end of support and preceding several major showcases is just bad timing in terms of exposure and word of mouth. The live-service business model is one that’s seen nothing but losses at this point, particularly earlier this year with Highguard. Marathon also costs $40 – not the highest price of admission but also not enough to beat free. And even when it was free, the number of players willing to check it out, at least on Steam, is disappointing at best.

It would be enough to chalk it up as another live-service failure and move on, but that’s not quite so simple. For starters, Marathon reportedly cost more than $200 million, close to $250 million, and it’s confirmed to have been in development for four years. That budget isn’t too hard to believe considering the pre-launch marketing, the all-star voice cast, and so on (and yet it launched with even fewer PvP maps than Destiny 1, but that’s neither here nor there). But the fact that Bungie was willing to delay it proves that (a) the overall state of the game was nowhere near as polished as it wanted, (b) it needed time to build some positive buzz around it, and (c) Sony clearly has a significant amount riding on it.

I mean, look no further than the company’s statements after its last financial report, where it was revealed to have suffered $765 million in impairment losses because of Bungie. It even admitted outright that the developer’s title portfolio “did not reach our expectations.”

"For starters, Marathon reportedly cost more than $200 million, close to $250 million, and it’s confirmed to have been in development for four years."

That said, it wasn’t going to pull a Concord and suddenly abandon the game. Sony noted strong reviews, including on Steam, and high player retention. So the goal was to then “improve the performance of the game by working to retain highly engaged core users through the introduction of additional content, further improvements in the gameplay experience, and expansion of the user base.”

However, Bungie has done all these things. Not only could it not reach the heights of the game’s launch, but player numbers have dropped right back down to what they were before.

And that’s a problem for many reasons because that apparent near $250 million budget probably doesn’t account for post-launch content. Or the cost of running servers. Or the cost of additional marketing, like those fancy cinematic trailers.

Sales figures remain unknown – all we have are reports that it had 2.2 million players in March. It’s very much possible that there’s a thriving community on consoles, but even in terms of actual numbers, it appears to be far below the likes of, say, ARC Raiders – another extraction shooter whose Steam player base is nowhere near its peak.

The problem with Marathon is, and always has been, the more hardcore PvP approach. Bungie could take every step possible to mitigate gear losses or pile on the loot, but it was built from day one to be a more ruthless competitive experience. It’s a game where a highly skilled player could absolutely thrive…just as much as a highly skilled team could effectively shut down anyone, and wipe out a good chunk of their progress. Unlike ARC Raiders, the avenues for avoiding other players, much less getting matched with those who aren’t out for blood, are far lower. And I say this as someone who enjoyed my time with it, learning the ins and outs of Tau Ceti IV – its hazardous flora, its mysterious events, and the sheer terror of trying to survive while savoring the gunplay.

"The problem with Marathon is, and always has been, the more hardcore PvP approach."

The funny thing is that it’s nowhere near as hardcore or realistic as Escape from Tarkov, and yet, even that’s seeing better Steam numbers. Marathon definitely offers a far more polished experience, but it’s also trying to appeal to a wider audience. First impressions matter though, and those who weren’t hooked from the get-go, either because of the messy UI or the punishing gameplay, clearly didn’t want to stick around. Which makes these experimental PvE modes all the more questionable, because Bungie has a PvE-focused game that it’s committed so many resources to over the years, just recently put out to pasture.

I can’t really tell you if there’s a solution to the whole Marathon problem because it may have been doomed from the start. Even with its announcement, the sheer bafflement at the classic FPS trilogy being turned into an extraction shooter was overwhelming. There was hope at the time that Bungie, of all developers, could probably pull it off. Call it a coin toss, because even the most skeptical of Destiny 2 players (read: me) admitted that the studio had its wins here and there.

But for Sony, it’s probably becoming clearer that Marathon won’t become a worthy live-service addition. It may be fine enough for a small hardcore community, but with that budget and given the spending on post-launch content – never mind how much Bungie costs to maintain in general – that’s simply not enough.

And with rumors of layoffs looming large at the studio, Sony may be content to just let Marathon ride out the remainder of its roadmap, offsetting costs by paying fewer salaries. By this time next year, it wouldn’t be surprising if it too gets that tearful end-of-support warning. Such is the nature of the industry, but you would think that Sony would have known better from the start rather than continuing to persist. But such is the siren of live-service, and the fate of those ensnared by its song.

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.