Bungie’s Marathon gets a new director, while its MOBA-like game is ‘in a holding pattern’

Bungie has changed Marathon’s game director, reportedly as part of a wider shake-up of the project’s creative leadership team.

While Christopher Barrett was Marathon’s game director when the sci-fi extraction shooter was announced last year, the Bungie veteran has since been replaced.

Former Valorant game director Joe Ziegler, who left Riot Games to join Bungie in 2022, has since stepped into the role.

According to IGN, Ziegler publicly announced his position as director shortly after the publication had caught wind of changes behind the scenes and approached the studio for comment.

Hey everyone! Fun update: for the last 9
Months I’ve been working on Marathon as the game director. We’re still baking, but I’m excited to share with you more info on the game as we get closer and closer to bringing it to all of you.

— Ziegler (@Ziegler_Dev) March 19, 2024

“For the last 9 Months I’ve been working on Marathon as the game director,” he said on X. “We’re still baking, but I’m excited to share with you more info on the game as we get closer and closer to bringing it to all of you.”

Sources told IGN that a number of changes have been made to Marathon under Ziegler’s watch, including moving away from custom player characters to a selectable cast of heroes.

When Sony acquired Bungie in 2022, it’s claimed the studio was working on a couple of “incubation projects”. One, which was reportedly axed later that year, is said to have been similar to a previously cancelled new IP called Matter. The other, a MOBA-like game codenamed Gummy Bears, is said to be “in a holding pattern”.

It was reported in December that Bungie’s position as an independent subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment was under threat.

At the time of the acquisition’s announcement, the PlayStation maker said Bungie would “continue to operate independently, maintaining the ability to self-publish and reach players wherever they choose to play”.

However, an IGN report stated that the company’s board structure is contingent on Bungie hitting certain financial goals, and if it fails to do so Sony can reportedly choose to dissolve the existing board and assume full control.

Last October, Bungie’s staff were reportedly warned that revenue was running at around 45% below projections for the year, which was said to have been attributed to poor player retention for Destiny 2.

Struggling to meet its targets and with the threat of a potential Sony takeover looming, Bungie’s leadership reportedly embarked on a wide-ranging cost-cutting plan that saw 100 of the studio’s 1,200 employees laid off.

Further reading

25

Sony president wants Bungie to be better at ‘assuming accountability for development timelines’

Hiroki Totoki says there's "room for improvement from a business perspective" at the Destiny studio

Bungie officially delayed upcoming Destiny 2 expansion The Final Shape in November. Originally planned to release in February, The Final Shape will now launch on June 4.

Fears are reportedly mounting among staff at Bungie that the expansion’s release will immediately be followed by another round of job cuts, with one source who is said to have knowledge of the studio’s budgets telling IGN “nothing adds up” and “something will need to happen to curb costs unless The Final Shape does so well to cover the gap and people can move to Marathon.”