I want to address the elephant in the room right away: Destiny 2 dying is awful, and I absolutely hate it, even if I stopped playing after Heresy. Now, the other elephant: no, it’s not Marathon‘s fault that Destiny 2 is getting its final update in June or that Destiny 3 is not in development. Ever since Bungie announced that active, live-service support for Destiny 2 is ending, I’ve been feeling this profound sense of sadness for all it could have been and wasn’t. For all I feel I’m losing, for feeling better after letting it go before The Edge of Fate, and for all the hate that Marathon is getting online.
I’ll be honest. I thought I’d enjoy Marathon more than I do. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the aesthetic of the game, and I think that its gunplay is better than Destiny 2‘s in terms of feeling and engagement. Loot is great, enemies are challenging, maps are fun. I just don’t love extraction shooters because of the forced PvP element and losing my progress, and that’s okay. This game wasn’t made for me, specifically, but I can still enjoy it and appreciate it for what it is. I just wish more people did the same thing, because I’m tired of the ambivalence of “Sony is nuts for not making Destiny 3, let’s start a petition” vs. “Destiny 2 died because of Marathon, so I want it to fail.”
Destiny 3 Petition Surpasses Marathon’s Peak Concurrent Players
The official petition for Destiny 3 after the announcement of Destiny 2’s final update has way more signatures than Marathon’s peak player count.
Destiny 2 vs. Marathon: Why The Game Died, And What Happened With Marathon
No, Destiny 2 didn’t die because of Marathon. Destiny 2 died for many different reasons, but to boil it down, I’d say it died because of bad actors within Bungie’s management and leadership, and it died because Sony didn’t get a return on the massive investment in purchasing Bungie, which worsened Destiny 2‘s position after The Final Shape posed itself as the conclusion of the game. After all, those same bad actors cared about their golden parachutes when the acquisition happened. A vicious cycle.
Put the consoles in the correct order.
Put the consoles in the correct order.
Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)
Instead, Bungie devs were listening, community managers were passing them messages and requests. So no, Bungie’s not to blame for Destiny 2‘s death, not as a whole, and neither is Marathon.
There is this myth that making Marathon siphoned all resources and staff away from Destiny 2, which was left in the dust by Bungie. This is not the whole truth, as Bungie leadership did decide to assign resources obtained with Destiny 2 expansions and microtransactions to the development of Marathon, but this didn’t leave its sibling high and dry. Likewise, staff weren’t siphoned from Destiny 2 to develop Marathon, instead. But rather, Bungie leadership started spreading resources and staff a bit too thin starting in 2023 due to multiple incubation projects, Marathon‘s active development, possible Destiny spin-offs like project Payback, and other projects entirely.
Marathon’s Development Was Supposed to Go Hand-in-Hand With Destiny 2’s
However, this is normal for large studios, as they can expand and hire new staff to allocate to new projects, or relocate staff based on pipeline priorities. The same goes for resources. I happen to be a huge Pokemon fan, and I’ve witnessed this discourse several times too many, where someone would throw accusations at Game Freak or The Pokemon Company as a whole, claiming that making two games at a time was siphoning resources from the mainline series. This was never the case, as Game Freak has two separate teams developing games, so spin-offs and remakes didn’t mean less development time, resources, or staff for mainline games. You may not be into Pokemon, but this is just one example of how game development works, and most likely what happened within Bungie at first. Marathon didn’t take development time away from Destiny 2; it was Bungie’s higher-ups who mismanaged both games’ development.
Scratch & Peek
Identify the cover art while scratching off as little foil as
possible.
Identify the cover art while scratching off as little foil as possible.
EasyMediumHardPermadeath
Sure, recent reports stated that Bungie moved most of its staff from Destiny 2 to Marathon, but this was only recently. According to Paul Tassi’s sources at Bungie, in April 2025, just a little over one year ago, around 550 developers were working on Destiny 2, with the remaining 300 working on Marathon.
This was after Bungie layoffs that affected Luke Smith and Mark Noseworthy, not counting the many talented staff, and controversies surrounding former CEO Pete Parsons, as well as issues with former staff, like Christopher Barrett. So, if Marathon siphoned staff from Destiny 2, it was maybe a couple of dozen at first, which was not nearly enough to put Destiny 2 in trouble. Not on its own.
Be Careful What You Wish For: Hoping for Marathon to Fail May Also Kill Destiny 3
Considering all this, what I’m here to tell you is: if you sign the official Destiny 3 petition and simultaneously bash Marathon online or try to actively boycott it out of “revenge,” you’re doing both franchises (and Bungie devs) a massive disservice. You don’t have to support and play Marathon if you don’t like it. It’s okay, and not every game is for everyone.
Marathon is not for everyone because it’s an extraction shooter, which has a clear audience in mind. Yes, there are some overlaps with Destiny 2‘s gameplay, but they are fundamentally different games. Because of that, let’s also get the “Marathon is cannibalizing Destiny 2‘s audience” bit out of the way, as it’s not true. Again, some overlap may happen, but the majority of Destiny 2‘s playerbase may not be into Marathon and vice versa.
Who’s That Character?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
What Can Happen to Marathon, Bungie, and Destiny 3 Next
Given the current reports that Destiny 3 is not happening and Bungie is soon undergoing more layoffs, the petition to make a sequel happen is great, and I fully support it. However, there’s something worth laying out here that I don’t think is very clear, seeing how many people want Marathon to fail “because it killed Destiny 2.”
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Scenario 1: Marathon fails. With Destiny 2‘s final update marking no new content for the game for the foreseeable future, and with Bungie reportedly having no other games in development or production, the entire studio may be dissolved into Sony, operate with limited staff and resources, or shut down entirely. This also means no Destiny 3, unless Sony, for whatever reason, tries to develop it on its own. This is extremely unlikely, as reports claim that Sony has not once, but multiple times, second-guessed Destiny 3 as an option due to the cost of making the game. So, Marathon‘s ship sinks, say goodbye to Destiny 2 and Destiny 3.
- Estimated chance of Destiny 3 happening: 0-to-5% at best.
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Scenario 2: Marathon succeeds. Maybe new updates and seasons start bringing in more players. Marathon will get a PvE mode, and that alone could become a new home for the thousands of Destiny 2 players who will no longer get new content for their beloved game. In this scenario, there is still no guarantee for a Destiny 3 to happen, but it would be much more likely. Bungie would most likely remain operative, even if changes happen internally, and the studio may get more funds and/or staff for future games.
- Estimated chance of Destiny 3 happening: 20-to-50%, depending on how well Marathon does.
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Scenario 3: Marathon succeeds. Similar to the previous scenario, Marathon gets new updates, succeeds, and starts getting more and more support and players. It becomes the new Destiny 2 live-service flagship for Bungie, essentially. However, the monkey’s paw curls, and this means that Sony wants more Marathon rather than more Bungie games, a Destiny 3, or a Destiny 2 revival. This is not impossible, considering what happened with Titanfall 2 and Apex Legends within Respawn; while fans wanted more Titanfall 2 or a Titanfall 3, they got more Apex Legends. This is not necessarily bad, but it means Destiny most likely doesn’t come back, at least not with a proper sequel.
- Estimated chance of Destiny 3 happening: 1-to-15%, but trending downwards.
Bungie Commits to Marathon’s Support ‘For the Long Haul’
Bungie reassures fans that it will continue to support Marathon for years to come as the developers roll out new updates to the shooter.
You Don’t Have to Play Marathon, But You Also Don’t Have to Hate It
What follows is that bashing Marathon and actively trying to boycott the game, be it with passive behavior or actions, such as using one’s platform to try and drive users away from it or make sure no new users try the game, has a much higher chance of killing Destiny 3 than supporting Marathon does. In fact, supporting Marathon may be a good way to indirectly try to support Destiny 3. Not supporting Marathon while not boycotting it can also be fruitful.
Instead, trying to hurt Marathon hinders any chance of success for the Destiny 3 petition, as Sony may more likely see no value in reviving the game it chose to chop if the other one is also on its way out, and Bungie may wind up with very few resources. I’m sorry if I seem harsh, but if you’re boycotting or review-bombing Marathon while hoping for Destiny 3, you’re shooting yourself in the foot.
What’s That Weapon?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
Marathon failing most likely would kill Bungie. I have a degree in psychology, so I very much know that if you’re grieving, you may want to find the culprits for what you’re feeling. But if you boycott Marathon, you boycott the same developers who wrote Destiny 2‘s story, made its characters, and made your very own Guardian. The same people who moved you with their words and worlds. The same people who made your favorite Exotic or raid. The same people who contributed to a decade of your memories. The same people who, even at the game’s lowest, still believed in it and worked hard for it to succeed. The same people whose work will never be seen because Shattered Cycle and The Alchemist won’t be released, despite being actively developed.
I don’t love Marathon the way I did Destiny 2, and I’m not sure if I will ever again feel the same with other games or franchises. I’m not sure there will ever be another game like Destiny 2, period. But I stand with Bungie’s talent and the hundreds of developers who are no longer at the company because they managed to create a universe I cared to protect as a Guardian. A universe I could call home. So, I will take up the mantle of a Guardian once more, and this time, I’ll try my best to protect Marathon.
Destiny 2
- Released
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August 28, 2017
- ESRB
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T For TEEN for Blood, Language, and Violence
