Bungie to Unveil Marathon Gameplay in Upcoming Livestream

Bungie is gearing up to unveil more about its much-anticipated PvP extraction shooter, Marathon, through an exciting gameplay livestream scheduled for this Saturday, April 12 (or Sunday, April 13, depending on your location). The excitement began last week when Bungie shared a cryptic tweet featuring a 15-second video that sparked an immediate detective frenzy among fans, initiating an "extensive alternative reality game."

Sleuths discovered that hidden within the ASCII art was "a snippet of footage from the initial trailer," showcasing "the runner sprinting down a hall from the trailer." Another intriguing message read: "WHEN WILL HE RETURN ERROR ERROR ERROR HAS OCCURRED THE ENEMY RETURNED SYSTEM WARNING: PROTOCOL BREACH EVACUATE THE BASE IMMEDIATELY ALL UNITS REPORT TO STATION INITIATE EMERGENCY PROTOCOL 7 DATA LOSS IMMINENT GOOD LUCK, COMMANDER."

"Thousands of community members across the world worked together to unlock the gameplay reveal date for Bungie’s upcoming extraction shooter Marathon," Bungie stated. The livestream is set to go live at 10 am PDT (San Francisco) / 1 pm EDT (New York) / 6 pm BST (London) / 7 pm CEST (Berlin/Paris) / 9 pm GST (Dubai) on Saturday, April 12, or Sunday, April 13 at 2 am JST (Tokyo) / 3 am AEST (Sydney) / 5 pm NZST (Auckland).

Marathon was revealed in May 2023 as a reboot of the classic Bungie franchise, embracing themes of "mysteries, eeriness, and psychological creepiness." Set on the enigmatic planet of Tau Ceti IV, players will take on the roles of Runners, cybernetic mercenaries engineered to endure the planet's harsh conditions. As they explore the remnants of a lost colony, players will hunt for valuable loot, including new weapons and gear.

Since its initial reveal, updates have been sparse. A development update video in October shed light on Marathon's mechanics, but the studio emphasized the game's early development stage. Amidst this, Sony's strategic shift away from live-service games, following the abrupt cancellation of Concord, has seen Sony president Hiroki Totoki announce in November 2023 that the company was committed to launching just six of the 12 live service games it was working on by March 2026, signaling the cancellation of The Last of Us multiplayer game.

Bungie has faced its own challenges, including laying off 220 staff—17% of its workforce—in July 2024, less than a year after 100 other layoffs at Bungie. Additionally, former Marathon director Chris Barrett was allegedly fired after an internal misconduct investigation, leading to Barrett subsequently suing Sony Interactive Entertainment and Bungie for more than $200 million.

To catch the Marathon reveal live, tune into the official Marathon Twitch channel on April 12.