Bungie has officially delayed Marathon: ‘Your voice has been strong and clear’

Bungie has officially delayed its shooter Marathon, claiming that it needs more time to refine and test the game.

In a statement, the Destiny Studio said it “need[s] more time to craft Marathon into the game that truly reflects your passion”, and that it will use the additional development time to “empower the team to create the intense, high-stakes experience that a title like Marathon is built around”.

The delay follows mixed feedback from players to recent alpha tests, and a significant controversy around stolen artwork that was found in those test builds.

Marathon was set for release on September 23 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series and PC. Bungie had confirmed that the game would be a “premium product”, though the studio has yet to confirm a price.

“Through every comment and real-time conversation on social media and Discord, your voice has been strong and clear,” Bungie’s statement reads.

“We’ve taken this to heart, and we know we need more time to craft Marathon into the game that truly reflects your passion. After much discussion within our Dev team, we’ve made the decision to delay the September 23rd release.

“The Alpha test created an opportunity for us to calibrate and focus the game on what will make it uniquely compelling—survival under pressure, mystery and lore around every corner, raid-like endgame challenges, and Bungie’s genre-defining FPS combat.

“We’re using this time to empower the team to create the intense, high-stakes experience that a title like Marathon is built around. This means deepening the relationship between the developers and the game’s most important voices: our players.

“Over the next few months, we’ll continue closed testing(including participants from the Alpha) to deploy gameplay updates and test new features as they come online.”

Bungie’s statements goes on to highlight the areas of Marathon that it will be focusing on with its additional development time. That includes improving the survival gameplay, by adding better AI, more rewarding runs, and more strategic combat.

It also says it plans to ‘double down’ on the Marathon Universe, with improved visuals, more narrative storytelling, and a darker tone, and it will add more social experiences to the game, including a better experience for solo/duos, and proximity chat.

“You’ll hear from us again later this Fall when we can share the progress we’ve made, alongside the game’s new release date,” it said. “Thank you again for your patience and— much more importantly— your passion. Your continued feedback will help us make Marathon the incredible gaming experience we all know it can be.”

Marathon’s slip is the latest in a long line of setbacks for PlayStation’s live service efforts. Last year, it infamously launched, and then quickly cancelled, online shooter Concord.

Earlier this year, Sony cancelled more live service games in development at Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games, the latter reportedly being a live service God of War title. Last month, the CEO of Fairgames studio Haven left the company.