Bungie has announced that the Marathon update, originally scheduled for September 22, will not do so. Instead, it will be released in December as part of a major update dubbed Symbiosis, which will introduce a new permanent PvE mode. Bungie considers it “the first major step in the next chapter of Marathon” and has decided to abandon its established seasonal cadence for additions as part of this series of modified plans.
“Content originally planned for September will now arrive as part of our Symbiosis update on December 8,” the studio wrote in a statement. blog post announcing the delay. “In addition to the new Shell Runner, permanent PvE experience, and refreshed perimeter zone, the update will also include a social area/shooting range, an experimental TDM mode, and improvements for new player onboarding.
“Before that, we will release a smaller, focused update on October 6 that resets the game’s progression and economy, refreshes rewards, and improves live gameplay, while giving the team time to deliver the larger experiences planned for December and March.”
This results in a shift towards taking longer to prepare for these big updates rather than being tied to the seasonal update schedule established by the studio. “Instead of tying major updates to fixed seasonal deadlines, we’re giving the team more flexibility to build, test, and improve features before release,” Bungie explained. “Since launch, you’ve told us that Marathon needs more depth, more variety, stronger progression, and better reasons to keep playing for the long term. We agree. Responding to this feedback requires us to change both what we build and how we deliver it.”
So, the plan for the coming months is a small update in October that will reset everyone’s progress and the Marathon economy, setting things up for the Symbiosis update to arrive on December 8th. Based on the latter’s promotional image, the latter’s PvE mode appears to revolve around some Helldivers 2-style space bugs. Bungie insists this is “just the beginning” of their plans to get Marathon humming.
I hope that’s the case, considering he’s the only runner they have left in the race after Destiny 2 dropped in June, and a lot of people are rooting for him.
