Marathon players reported that for a brief period during the Server Slam, typing “ARC Raiders” in the chat produced a string of # symbols, sparking censorship claims. The incident closely mirrors an earlier issue in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, though unlike Activision, Bungie has not commented on the cause and only used Marathon‘s Twitter to show the fix without explanation.
For those unfamiliar, in early October 2025, during the public beta of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, players reported that typing “ARC Raiders” in the chat returned a censored phrase of asterisks, while other game titles could be mentioned freely. Activision later said the restriction was unintentional and adjusted the filters to fix it. A comparable issue reportedly occurred on EA’s app, where players couldn’t mention Embark Studios’ game, though EA also denied any intentional blocking and said it was resolved. Now, a very similar situation is unfolding in Bungie’s Marathon, with the developer facing accusations of targeted censorship.
Marathon Has Officially Beaten ARC Raiders in One Major Way
Just hours ahead of its Server Slam and days before release, Marathon officially beats its biggest competitor, ARC Raiders, in one major way.
Marathon Players Saw ‘### #######’ When Typing ARC Raiders
Hours into Marathon‘s Server Slam, reports emerged that ARC Raiders‘ name was being censored in chat, with several high-profile streamers, including Ninja, confirming it. Soon, videos began circulating proving that indeed the title of Embark Studios’ extraction game appeared as “### #######,” while typing “arc” and “raiders” in separate messages triggered no restrictions. Later, Marathon‘s development team responded on Twitter to a user reporting the issue with an image showing the phrase “ARC Raiders is awesome” sent in chat, offering no further explanation. The response gave the impression that the team was trying to debunk the claims rather than clarify that it was caused by a bug or unintentional filters. As a result, many fans quickly called out Bungie, with one user saying, “Obviously patched, we saw it happen live,” a sentiment shared by many others.
If it was a bug, many argue, it was an unusual one, as it appeared to affect only the phrase “ARC Raiders.” As shown on Ninja’s stream and in other examples, players could type the names of other popular shooter games, like Apex Legends, in Marathon‘s chat without issue, while only ARC Raiders returned the censored “### #######” message. The problem now seems resolved, and fans can reportedly type the competitor’s name in chat without getting blocked by any filters. But it remains unclear whether Bungie will address the claims officially or leave the development team’s Twitter response as their only engagement with the controversy.
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What’s clear is that the rivalry between Marathon and ARC Raiders isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Despite their differences, both games fall into the same extraction shooter category, which naturally invites comparisons and sparks controversies. Right now, for example, fans are looking at the two games’ concurrent player counts during the Server Slam to gauge a winner. And more drama of this kind is likely once Marathon officially launches on March 5.
It will also be interesting to see if Embark Studios responds to Bungie’s reported censorship. Previously, when Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 faced similar accusations, the Swedish company tweeted playfully, “We’re still on track to release *** ******* on October 30th,” using asterisks to mimic how ARC Raiders‘ name appeared in the game’s chat. Now that another title has seemingly censored the popular extraction shooter, it would be amusing if Embark Studios fired back with a similar tweet, this time using the # symbol. That said, Marathon and ARC Raiders have avoided direct conflict so far, even though their fan bases frequently clash online. It therefore seems unlikely that Embark Studios will respond to Bungie’s alleged censorship.
As of now, Bungie has not issued any official statement on the ARC Raiders censorship allegations beyond the development team’s tweet.
- Released
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March 5, 2026
- ESRB
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Teen / Animated Blood, Language, Violence, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
