About

Marathon is an upcoming extraction shooter video game developed and published by Bungie. The game is a reboot of Bungie's original 1990s Marathon first-person shooter series. In Marathon, teams of up to three players controlling cybernetic "Runners" engage in scavenge runs on the abandoned planet Tau Ceti IV, facing both other players and AI-controlled security forces. In April 2025, the official gameplay trailer for the game was unveiled.

History

On May 24th, 2023, the American video game studio Bungie, the original developer of Halo and Destiny video game series, announced Marathon, a team-based extraction shooter and reboot of its 1990s Marathon FPS series. On that day, the announcement trailer^[1] for the game premiered on YouTube, garnering over over 21 million views in one year (shown below).

On April 12th, 2025, the gameplay reveal trailer for the game premiered on YouTube,^[2] where it garnered over 809,000 views in three days (shown below). Also that day, a cinematic short based on the game directed by Alberto Mielgo premiered on YouTube.^[3]

An closed alpha test for the game is expected to begin on April 23rd, 2025. The game is expected to release on September 23rd, 2025, and will not be free-to-play neither a "full-priced title".^[4]

Online Reactions

Gameplay Trailer Reveal

Following the reveal trailer in April 2025, the game became a popular subject of discussions on social media, with some users contributing fan art. The publisher Sony's decision not to release the game as a free-to-play title caused doubts^[5] regarding the game's potential success as some users compared the upcoming shooter to the failed 2024 multiplayer video game Concord that launched at a $40 price. Other users compared^[6] the game to Helldivers 2, a more successful video game published by Sony that cost $40 at launch (example post shown below).

While some users praised the game's art style, its seeming lack of innovative gameplay mechanics became a subject of discussions and memes. For example, on April 12th, 2025, X^[7] user @kelskiYT made a Hype Moments and Aura meme about the upcoming game that received over 50 reposts and 1,200 likes in three days (shown below).

The game seemingly having minimum amount of connection to the original Marathon series has also sparked discourse.^[8]

Search Interest

External References