Marathon is the next game from Bungie, the developer of the Destiny series, and it’s supposed to be released later this year. However, there are indications that something could be happening behind the scenes. According to a new report from the Sacred Symbols+ podcast (via The Game Post), Sony has cancelled its plans to do any paid marketing for Marathon this year. Right now, it’s unclear if this is a result of the recent controversy that has surrounded the game, and if this could indicate that the planned September 23rd release date has been pushed back.
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“I was told by someone familiar with marketing plans in a key overseas market that there are now no plans to do paid marketing for Marathon at all,” said host Colin Moriarty. “I don’t know if those plans were affected by what has recently happened or if that was always the plan or whatever. But it is considered a fairly unusual move for a game of this high profile.”
Moriarty did not offer any additional information about what market that could be. However, his phrasing of “what has recently happened,” is likely a reference to accusations that a Marathon developer stole assets from the artist known as “ANTIREAL.” On May 15th, ANTIREAL pointed out several assets in the Marathon alpha that seemed to be pulled from designs the artist created in 2017. That same day, Bungie essentially admitted to the art theft in a series of posts on X/Twitter. The company stated that “a former Bungie artist included these in a texture sheet that was ultimately used in-game.” The development team is apparently looking into how this happened to prevent similar mistakes in the future, and says it is “committed to do right by the artist.”
The art theft controversy has put a lot of negative attention on Marathon, and some Bungie fans have argued that the game should be pushed back anyway. On top of the fact that reception to the gameplay hasn’t been great to begin with, many feel that it’s going to be difficult to turn around public sentiment in just a few months. Some see a delay as the only way to turn things around, and if this report is accurate, Sony could be planning to do just that.
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Sony has been making a big push into live-service games over the last few years, to largely negative results. Last year’s high-profile Concord failure is still fresh in the minds of PlayStation users, and the only real live-service success story Sony has seen is Helldivers 2. Bungie was acquired by Sony in 2022, for the express purpose of helping with the whole live-service initiative. A few years later, Sony’s live-service games have largely failed to get off the ground, and Marathon seems to be limping towards the finish line. Until PlayStation and Bungie formally make an announcement about Marathon plans, we’ll just have to wait and see how things pan out.
Do you think Marathon will end up getting delayed? Are you still looking forward to the game’s release? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!
