Sony is laying off potentially hundreds of developers at Bungie as part of its latest round of cuts following the end of support for Destiny 2, but it will continue investing in Marathon despite the extraction shooter’s ongoing struggles to expand its audience despite rave reviews. That was the message from PlayStation Studios chief Hermen Hulst in a new letter about the cuts. The Sony exec called Marathon an “important” part of the company’s gaming portfolio and promised ongoing support, at least for now.
“Marathon remains an important part of our portfolio, and we will continue to support the team as they build on the strong foundation established in Season 1 and 2, and as they work on incubation efforts for future projects,” Hulst told staff on June 25. “While it’s too early to discuss, we are encouraged by the creativity and opportunities that lie ahead.”
Marathon launched to decent player interest on Steam and console back in March and received high praise from early reviewers. But despite beautiful art, bold gameplay ideas, and a steady stream of fixes and updates, the extraction shooter has had a tough time drawing in new players, especially heading into its second season. The game went free for a week and added new classes, maps, and modes, but interest has clearly waned since launch, even among some of its biggest boosters.
Its latest pivot is a PVE-only mode coming in July as part of the mid-season update. That will let players explore Cryo Archive, Marathon‘s ambitious end-game dungeon, without all of the grinding and PVP dangers weighing down its standard version. While some players worry that this is diluting the game’s main appeal, others are hopeful it can draw in fresh faces to help Marathon stick around for longer.
Bungie has already been teasing content for season 3, and hinted in previous interviews that it has story content planned out for years to come. Whether the sci-fi game gets that kind of runway is still far from clear. Sony’s live-service strategy has been all over the place, and many have wondered why it recently pulled the plug on Destiny 2, a much more successful game at its peak, while continuing to invest in Marathon.
Whatever the game’s future ultimately holds, Sony is already signaling it wants Bungie working on its next big idea. Hulst points out that the Marathon team is also working on “incubation efforts” for new projects, and Bungie’s own statement on the layoffs mentions future games being “still in early incubation.”