Bungie has delayed Marathon indefinitely, scrapping its previous Sept. 23 release date. The company offered no new release date or window.
The delay follows a series of setbacks, including a noticeable dip in marketing support from Sony, plagiarism allegations surrounding the project, and reports of low team morale, all of which signaled trouble long before the official announcement. But according to the note provided by Bungie, the delay mostly stems from user feedback from the Alpha playtest.
“Through every comment and real-time conversation on social media and Discord, your voice has been strong and clear,” Bungie said. “We’ve taken this to heart, and we know we need more time to craft Marathon into the game that truly reflects your passion. After much discussion within our Dev team, we’ve made the decision to delay the September 23rd release.“
Bungie also let players know, “Over the next few months, we’ll continue closed testing (including participants from the Alpha) to deploy gameplay updates and test new features as they come online.”
Bungie promised to improve combat AI, increase visual fidelity, and overall better play experience for solo and duos, among other things.