Bungie Comments on Marathon Potentially Having Aggression-Based Matchmaking

Content creators and journalists in China recently had the opportunity to go hands-on with Bungie’s upcoming extraction shooter, Marathon, and revealed tons of new details about the title ahead of its PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC launch next month. During the preview event, Marathon‘s game director Joseph Ziegler confirmed that the game won’t follow in ARC Raiders‘ footsteps and won’t use an aggression-based matchmaking system, but that the shooter does have tools that allow players to communicate and be friendly if they wish.

After some fans got the chance to go hands-on with Marathon via a closed play test last year, Bungie made the difficult decision to delay its next shooter indefinitely following negative feedback from players. However, Marathon is finally making its comeback next month, and the studio looks to have made some big changes over the last year. According to Bungie, improvements have been made to key areas of the game, including updates to AI, combat, and visuals, as well as the addition of social features such as proximity chat.

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Marathon Won’t Have Aggression-Based Matchmaking

With ARC Raiders making waves in the gaming world over the last few months, it’s no surprise that Marathon is already being compared to Embark Studios’ hit shooter. One question fans have been eager to know the answer to for a long time: will Marathon have an aggression-based matchmaking system, similar to ARC Raiders? Well, according to game director Joseph Ziegler, no, it will not. During a recent interview with Ali213 (translated via Google), Marathon doesn’t have “a specific match rule to distinguish between non-combat players”, but the developer does say that it will provide tools, like close-range proximity chat, that will allow players to meet and communicate with one another. Ziegler explains that the “tension and suspicion” of being unable to determine whether or not players are hostile is a core part of the survival experience.

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ARC Raiders‘ aggression-based matchmaking divided the community when it was revealed last year, as players quickly discovered that it was possible to manipulate the system in order to be placed into PvE-heavy lobbies where other players are also friendly. Although this is the point of the system, it only takes a handful of games of not shooting other players to then be put into these types of Raids, which some believe takes away all tension. However, Embark’s CEO, Patrick Söderlund, recently commented on this controversy and said that this is “not the intent of the game’s design.” He also said the system will continue to be tweaked as time goes on.

Marathon‘s game director also commented on a potential safe pocket mechanic, as seen in other extraction shooters such as ARC Raiders. When asked if Bungie has implemented such a mechanic, Ziegler revealed that there won’t be a safe pocket feature at launch, as the studio has “tried to design other ways for players to obtain resources” and make progression. However, the developer did admit that the studio “may” add a safety container-like feature in a seasonal update, but that this will depend on player feedback and behavior.

No safe pocket and no aggression-based matchmaking look to be just some of the ways Marathon is aiming to distinguish itself from ARC Raiders. Last month, Bungie also revealed some new details about Marathon‘s free loadouts, and it has a feature that ARC Raiders players have been begging for since launch. Specifically, anybody who chooses the Rook class, which is essentially a free loadout, will load into a game later than other players.