Bungie faces uncertainties with Marathon and suspended marketing

The launch of Marathon, a new project from Bungie outside the Destiny universe, begins to show clear signs of instability. The game, scheduled for September 23, 2025, had its marketing campaign suspended, as revealed by Colin Moriarty on the Sacred Symbols podcast (via TheGamePost). The information reportedly came from an international source connected to Sony's advertising sector.

"It is considered unusual for a title of this profile", commented Moriarty, referring to the project's scope and the decision to cancel paid advertisements - something atypical in major multi-platform releases. The lack of promotional plans suggests that Marathon may be delayed, even though Sony and Bungie have not officially confirmed the change.

The scenario is exacerbated by other negative factors. Recently, Bungie was accused of using plagiarized art in promotional materials for the game. The company stated that it is internally investigating and will replace problematic visual assets, but the episode has compromised the public image of the project at a delicate time.

Marathon is a competitive extraction shooter, scheduled for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, being treated as one of the major service titles from Sony in the coming years. However, the closed tests conducted in recent months reportedly generated mixed reactions from participants, increasing suspicion surrounding the game's quality and identity.

The concept of Marathon revolves around a tactical multiplayer focusing on extracting resources from matches against players and artificial intelligence, in a sci-fi universe that reimagines Bungie's own classic, originally released in 1994 for Macintosh. The company has promised fidelity to the original proposal with modern visuals and environmental narrative, but has not yet disclosed detailed technical information, such as game modes, monetization structure, or post-launch roadmap.

With a possible new State of Play in June, there is an expectation for more information to come to light. For now, the silence from Sony and the cut in promotion indicate that Marathon may not be ready to support the company's service game strategy, already under pressure due to the poor performance of previous projects and the internal restructuring at PlayStation Studios initiated in 2023.

Until further notice, the game remains listed for September, but the current context raises doubts about the real viability of this schedule.