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After a delay that completely took Marathon out from its planned launch this year on September 23 into indefinite status, the upcoming live-service extraction shooter finally has a launch window.
In a surprise Bungie ViDoc released on Monday, the company outlined its vision for its first non-Destiny title since 2014, including a release window of March 2026 at an RRP (Recommended Retail Price) of $39.99/€39.99/£34.99.
“Purchasing Marathon will give you full access to the game, including a roadmap of free gameplay updates as the year progresses,” a statement on the game’s website reads. “This will include new maps, new Runner shells, events, and more, starting with the exploration of UESC Marathon’s Cryo Archive in Season 1.”
The rest of the ViDoc outlines some of the stuff that’s been added to Marathon in the time since it first began since its maligned Alpha test, including the ability to use Proximity Chat, a key hallmark of other games in its genre.
Back in April, Bungie asserted that its return to Marathon wouldn’t have Proximity Chat until the developers had a “solution” to rampant toxicity, the other side of the double-edged sword that is heavily social-focused games.
Eventually, rumors began percolating that the game would indeed have Prox Chat, though it was unclear if the team had found the “solution” it was searching for.
“Looking forward to getting Marathon into your hands next year,” the outline concluded.
At One Point, Marathon s Indefinite Delay Had Many Thinking The Game Was Set For Cancelation
As recent as June, Sony was adamant that Marathon would make its originally scheduled 2025 launch. However, that was ultimately not the case as the game went into an indefinite delay that eventually led to another round of beta testing.
In-between, Sony further stated that it had expected the launch to happen in this fiscal year, which, coincidentally, will end on March 31, 2026. Still, the company went as far as to say that it isn’t an official designation by any means and things could change. Elsewhere, PlayStation further stressed that Marathon won’t “make the same mistakes” that Concord did.
There was also an entire plagiarism scandal in which Bungie was accused of using stolen assets to help fill out the game’s environments. Those accusations also reportedly led to employee morale being in a “free-fall” mode.
Now, it appears that Marathon is in the proper state to begin pressing copies, preparing servers and ultimately launching within the next few months. Only time will tell whether all these delays and refinements have paid off, or if Marathon is just another live-service game doomed to fail.
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