Marathon’s official launch is just over a week away, and Bungie has a strong message for any would-be cheaters. Anyone caught cheating in the game will be immediately banned from Marathon by Bungie.
“Anyone found to be cheating will be permabanned from playing Marathon forever, no second chances,” wrote Bungie on X. Despite the promise of “no second chances,” Bungie has also said that “no system is perfect, so we will have an appeals system to monitor for any issues in detection and if you do suspect foul play, please report in game or through our online report form.”
Bungie has also laid out some of the actions and features it’s created to catch cheaters. The “Fog of War,” for example, will limit the regions of a map that individual players are aware of in order to reduce wall hacks, ESP cheats and “loot revealers.”
According to Bungie, its dedicated Marathon servers closely monitor players’ movement, shooting, actions, and inventory. That will allow the servers to recognize when players are attempting to use cheats like teleporting or unlimited ammo.
“No network or security model can guarantee perfection,” reads a statement from Bungie. “But we are committed to protecting the Marathon competitive experience and ensuring everyone has their fair chance at exfiltrating with a backpack full of sweet loot.”
Composer Ryan Lott and Bungie audio director Chase Combs were recently featured in a mini-documentary about their time creating the sound and music for Marathon.
Marathon will be released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on March 5. Players who want an early peak at the title can take part in Bungie’s Server Slam open beta event, beginning on February 26.