Bungie Says It Has Plans for Marathon Story for 'Next Few Years'

Marathon, the PvPvE extraction shooter from Bungie, launched in March to positive reviews, but hasn't quite amassed a player base to compete with other multiplayer heavyweights. The studio, however, is focussed on the long run. Bungie has said it has plans for Marathon story for the “next few years,” suggesting it intends to support the game years after its release.

In a recent interview with GamesRadar, Marathon's creative director Julia Nardin said Bungie will continue to evolve the game's story with the help of players.

“We know where we want to take the story over the next few years, but I don't want to say it's completely 'locked in' because it's important to us that our players be able to help shape it,” Nardin said.

Marathon is live service title, but it features considerable lore and narrative that plays out through faction missions and uncovered codex entries. Bungie intends to make the game accessible to new players as further updates add more content and evolve the story.

“It's also important that players can jump into Marathon at any time," Nardin said. “They'll always be able to uncover the mysteries of Tau Ceti's past while experiencing its present.”

Destiny 2, Bungie's other live service title, has received multiple major story expansions over the years, but the shooter has received criticism for making it difficult for new players to experience the game.

“We want every season to be a new entry point, and for new players to be able to understand what's going on regardless of how long we've all been running,” Nardin added.

Marathon Updates

Marathon has continued to receive regular post-launch updates that fine tune the gameplay experience based on player feedback. The most recent one, update 1.0.6.2, brought improvements to item economy, combat, UI, and more. The update rebalanced the WSTR Combat Shotgun in the game.

On April 14, Bungie rolled out Marathon's mid-season update, bringing weapon adjustments, new Reward Pass additions, Runner shell tuning, Arachne shell styles, new equipment, along with other improvements. Most importantly, the update introduced rewards for both solo and squad players for completing contract objectives and exfiling together.

Marathon launched on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S/X on March 5, but has struggled to maintain a consistent player base despite positive reception. Sony and Bungie have not revealed sales figures for the game, but according to analytics firm Ampere (via The Game Business), Marathon reached over 2.2 million players during its launch month. Half of those players — 1.1 million — were reportedly on PC. The rest were split between PS5 (660,000 players) and Xbox (525,000 players).