Bungie Denies Claims of Merging Destiny and Marathon
- Bungie’s Julia Nardin confirms that a leak suggesting a merger of Destiny and Marathon is false.
- The leak originated from 4Chan, claiming Bungie is exploring a narrative crossover.
- Marathon is set to become free-to-play in December, with new updates and modes planned.
Bungie has officially refuted a recent leak alleging plans to merge their two franchises, Destiny and Marathon. Julia Nardin, the creative director for Marathon and a veteran developer at Bungie, stated, “As someone who’s worked on both Destiny and Marathon, I can confirm that the ‘leak’ about us merging the two IPs is fake. They share a lot of the same Bungie DNA, but like siblings they’re also their own independent entities. Please don’t believe everything you read online.”
The leaked information suggested that Bungie is “testing the waters” for a narrative crossover, with Marathon portrayed as the beginning of mankind’s Golden Age, potentially introducing future threats in the Destiny universe. This leak reportedly originated from 4Chan and was later shared on Reddit, although Nardin did not comment on other specifics of the leak.
Further claims within the leak indicated that numerous former Destiny 2 developers have been re-engaged to assist with Marathon. Some of these developers are allegedly incorporating ideas that were originally intended for canceled expansions and a sequel to Destiny 2.
Bungie delivered the final significant update for Destiny 2 in June, stating that development on the game had halted completely and that no further expansions would be produced. Moreover, Bungie confirmed that Destiny 3 is not in development and announced layoffs of hundreds of employees as of the same month.
The leak also indicated that Marathon will “borrow” elements from Destiny, including its reputation and faction systems, along with plans for a social space. It suggested that Bungie might incentivize Destiny 2 players to try Marathon by offering in-game rewards for completing specific Triumphs in the final Destiny 2 update.
Additionally, it was revealed that Marathon will transition to a free-to-play model in December, which was cited as a reason for the delay of an upcoming update that will introduce a permanent PvE mode. This new mode, referred to as Investigations, is described as a mix of Monster Hunter and Splatoon’s Salmon Run. Players will engage in activities alongside friends to complete objectives and face large raid-style bosses.
Despite these developments, Marathon has struggled commercially, selling an estimated 1.2 million copies at launch, with player counts on Steam dropping significantly to below 3,000 concurrent players daily.
News Courtesy of Eurogamer
