Bungie feels like it is coming out of an intervention, except instead of being prompted by loving friends and family, the studio was cornered by accountants and angry gamer bros. Last week, Bungie posted a blog post and video about the "next chapter for Bungie." Turns out it's not just Marathon that is getting a new roadmap. Poria Torkan, Bungie Studio Head, addresses lost trust and the consequences of weak focus:

"For more than 30 years, Bungie has built these amazing worlds and communities have formed around them. Over the last few years, we lost sight of that. The consequences have been real. We lost trust. We lost incredible colleagues. And our ambitions as a studio stalled. We chased vision without enough focus on what players loved and that's on us...

...We're not asking for your trust. We know we have to earn it. And to do that, we need our games to deliver in ways that exceed your expectations of what you've come to love about the games that we make."

I've poured a fair share of my life into Bungie games. I care deeply about the studio and its games. While I was not and am not as hardcore as my friends in college or the folks I have met playing Marathon this year, even I could sense the drift of the studio from its player base. So much so that I called it out in the opening of my review of Marathon.

"Over the years, I have grown cold toward both Destiny 2 and Bungie as they failed to draw me back, forgot its own lore, and were rumored to have swung the axe on The Last of Us Online. I felt like the studio had lost its touch chasing the stars with Guardians. I fell away. Friends fell away. I became even a smidge snarky. Not unlike a certain Dickensian miser soured on Christmas, when Bungie's name came up, I would grumble."

This sort of response was necessary and I am glad Bungie came out and said what they said. The reaction to Destiny not being dead and all the vaulted D2 content coming back is a good sign of their first announcement. Now we all have to wait and see if their actions line up.

As for my darling Marathon, the scope of the game is growing quite a bit, it seems. The team went into more detail yesterday about their vision and plans, but I think these observations from the team in a little behind-the-scenes video Future of Marathon Part 1 (Behind the Scenes) | Marathon Developer Insights frame the following decisions. Kevin Yanes, a Senior Design Lead, talked about how the team was too close to the project:

"Launch didn't go the way we wanted it to. We all built a game that we believed would resonate. But I think when you're so close to something, it's hard to see the bigger picture objectively. And so we made a game that was overly difficult, I think, for a lot of folks. And, that constant loop of failure, I don't think, spoke to as many people as we hoped it would. While death is the first step, for many players, death was the only step."

And the Creative Director, Julia Nardin, points out the need for evolving the game to encapsulate all of Bungie's DNA. I found this analogy to reflect the game's narrative of evolving Runner shells in a spot-on way.

"...there's kind of components of the Bungie DNA, and that this game has a lot of them, but there are strands missing, and it's our job over the next year to kind of weave those strands back in to create a holistic player experience, that people recognize as being truly Bungie."

The empty desks behind Nardin and the game's director, Del Chafe III, do not inspire confidence.

I thought it was truly Bungie at launch, but I do understand. In pursuit of this evolution, Bungie wants to go beyond pure extraction shooter and turn the game into an offering of survival experience.

"PvEvP will remain an important part of Marathon, but it will become one point in a connected set of survival experiences.

We’re building toward:

  • Connected PvE, PvP, and PvEvP experiences
  • Different levels of intensity and commitment
  • Options for solo players and crews
  • More approachable ways to enter and learn the game
  • Experiences built around cooperation, competition, and high-risk survival"

That whole list sounds like a very good time for Marathon. Again, actions speak louder. We have to wait and see.

The game's developer Twitter account gave a deeper dive into specifics. Here are the ones that caught my eye. The first is a change I have been begging for since the beginning.

"Cryo Archive will run every week starting Thursday October 15th and we're extending its availability window by 24 hours each week! Now Cryo Archive will be available all day Sunday as well because what better way to end a weekend than with an epic Cryo run?"

Thank goodness. I have not been able to play as much as I was in the beginning. Whenever I'd find time to play on Sunday, Cryo would already be gone. I never understood why you wouldn't want your sickest map and experience available all weekend long.

"We want to rethink how Runners interact with their Cradle and give you more agency over each shell’s progression, capabilities, and its specialized role in your arsenal."

To me, this sounds like Runner-specific upgrade trees, which will give players more to level up and grind. I think the Cradle is too generic, and offering specific trees and perks for each shell makes way more sense. It rewards you for playing and mastering a specific role.

"Symbiosis will also introduce an experimental Team Deathmatch mode. This experience offers a more direct, lower-commitment way to sharpen your skills and compete without putting a full run at risk. We’ll be watching how players engage with the experiment and using what we learn to help shape the future of competitive play in Marathon."

I am curious what this will look like from a loot perspective. I assume you don't lose any gear? There's a bit of refined pressure when you know more than your K/D ratio is on the line. Speaking of which, more detailed stats would be nice. I would really like a Team Deathmatch mode though. I can always get better at team play, map movement, and encounter strategy.

They also published a detailed calendar of the entire reset schedule until the Symbiosis expansion. That's pretty thorough communication. No confusion here.

260925_Marathon Refresh Calendar

I am excited for these changes and plans. Marathon is a game that hasn't left my brain since I started playing it—even when I haven't had the time or opportunity to play. I am eager to jump back in soon and explore the direction Bungie and the community are taking the game. Bungie closed out their next chapter blog with the following paragraphs, which felt like an appropriate closer here.

"We’ve made several changes with how we operate by simplifying our priorities, reducing competing initiatives, moving decisions closer to the teams building our games, and changing how we measure success to place greater emphasis on player satisfaction.

None of those changes earn trust on their own. What matters is whether they help us make better decisions, deliver stronger experiences more consistently, and communicate with greater clarity when plans change. 

There is still a great deal of work ahead and challenges to overcome, but we believe deeply in this studio, our people, and the games we are building. But belief is not enough. It’s on us to prove progress through what we deliver. Thank you for continuing to challenge us, and for caring so deeply about the worlds we create. Keep holding us accountable. We are ready to do the work."

Bungie has been shaped by its community since its earliest days. Seems like they are ready to let the community back in a more respected role. Let's see if they can deliver.