Troubled PS5 First-Person Shooter Is Back, 3 Months After It Was Indefinitely Delayed

October 7, 2025, 3:06pm

PlayStation is staging a comeback for a new shooter that has been shrouded in controversy. PlayStation is best known for crafting immaculate, cinematic single player games, and that’s really what its audience is craving for. For the shooter crowd, PlayStation offered various exclusive benefits for Call of Duty, but those opportunities expired after Xbox took control of the IP. PlayStation has also been looking for ways to expand its live-service offerings which unfortunately failed with Concord last year. Other games like Fairgames aim to fill that void, but other projects have been met with controversy or outright cancelled by PlayStation.

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One of the biggest games that PlayStation has been trying to shepherd when it comes to the live-service genre is Marathon, a revival of one of Bungie’s oldest IP. The franchise began in the 90s, but took a backseat once Halo became the next big thing. However, Bungie is looking to bring it back after working on the Destiny franchise for years. Marathon will return as an extraction shooter with a unique art style and while Bungie is owned by PlayStation, the plan is to bring the game to Xbox as well. Unfortunately, Marathon has suffered some major obstacles along the way.

Marathon Is Returning With New Playtest

Earlier this year, we got out first real look at Marathon along with confirmation that it would release in September. Not long after, players got to go hands-on via a playtest, but it wasn’t met with a great reception. Not only that, but it was revealed that a developer working on Marathon plagiarized art that was in the game. This prompted a larger investigation to see if there were other instances of this in the game. This controversy, combined with the game just not being very great, led to Marathon being delayed indefinitely, causing questions about the game’s future.

Now, PlayStation and Bungie are bringing it back into the limelight. Marathon is getting a new closed technical test that will require a signed NDA to participate. The test will run from October 22nd to October 28th with sign-ups starting today. Bungie also confirmed that a public update on Marathon will follow in the months after this technical test.

“This is an important checkpoint for us as we test our improvements since Alpha, including three maps, five runner shells, prox chat, re-tuned combat pacing, solo queue, deeper environmental storytelling, and more,” said Bungie. “That said, the Technical Test build is a work in progress and will only include a portion of what’s planned for Marathon’s full release, focused on the early player experience.”

Although Marathon‘s test is NDAed, these things almost always have leaks. Gameplay or at least written details will probably surface someway, somehow. And depending on how it’s received, Bungie may let it slide too. Sometimes these serve as great ways to boost hype, unintentionally. Marathon has also been criticized for being a premium release and not a free-to-play game, but perhaps this delay will lead to a change in how the game is rolled out.

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