Bungie has remained silent for over a year. There was no new information or teasers about the shooter, but now the Game Director, Joe Ziegler, has officially spoken out and revealed what you should know about the extraction shooter.
Who is speaking here? Joe Ziegler is the Game Director of Marathon and has been working on the project since mid-2023. He succeeded the former head of Marathon, Christopher Barrett. Since the brief teaser in the PlayStation Showcase 2023, there has been no new information regarding the extraction shooter. Only scattered leaks from insiders, but official voices from Bungie have been absent – until now.
Joe Ziegler unexpectedly announced a dev update on YouTube. The developer describes the current state of the shooter, addresses some topics, and even provides some sneak peeks of the heroes from the universe. Here’s a brief summary of what you need to know.
Two characters have been introduced
What was said in the video? Joe Ziegler introduced himself and explained on YouTube what the dev update is about and what you can expect:
- The shooter takes place in the universe of Marathon, one of Bungie’s oldest IPs
- It is a hardcore extraction shooter
- There will be multiple characters with different talents
- Codenames “Thief” and “Stealth” were introduced
- Players will be able to collect a lot of loot to improve their character, also called runner
- If you are defeated in a round, you lose all your loot
What is particularly interesting is the way Bungie approaches development. Joe Ziegler emphasizes that many tests have been conducted with players and content creators to refine the game based on feedback. So far, these tests have taken place on a smaller scale, but Bungie aims to expand them in 2025 to gather more feedback from players. It is quite possible that an open beta will start in 2025.
Additionally, the Game Director revealed that you can expect more information about the extraction shooter in mid-2025. What type of information is still unknown.
What do fans say? They see this update from the developers more as a reminder – as if Bungie is trying to raise awareness for the game again. Especially the “hero system” is being discussed, as apparently hardly anyone wants it. The following can be heard on YouTube:
- “Please don’t make the characters heroes. I am exhausted from hero shooters.” – ian_g
- “I hope the runners will be aesthetically similar to the androids from the first trailer, I really like their designs.” – Anto_inKai
- “It would be good if there were runner classes like ‘Thief’ that had some unique abilities and model designs, but you should still be able to customize YOUR character as ‘Thief’, instead of having 10 copies of the same specific Thief running around in the world.” – zoloir5384
- “I am not particularly fond of the hero shooter feel that the runners are projecting. I was really looking forward to building and developing my own character instead of using a pre-made one.” – CybenX_yt
What do you think of Marathon? Are you excited about the extraction shooter or are you not interested in it? We would love to hear your opinion on it. More about Marathon and what Bungie is planning can be found here: Bungie is working on a new shooter after 10 years, but you can play the original for free now
