Marathon delay rumors surface as Bungie drops marketing plans

The vibes have never been worse

After the recent controversy with Bungie, it seems that there are now Marathon delay rumors suggesting that the game might slip into 2026.

The employee morale is at an all-time low over the plagiarism troubles and mixed alpha test feedback. Let’s check out more details in this article.

Marathon delay & marketing plans scrapped

Bungie has already cancelled its plans for the June trailer and pre-order campaign, shifting its August public beta to a series of playtests, per Forbes.

For now, although it’s not official, rumors are already circulating that Sony and Bungie executives might be discussing about Marathon delay to 2026.

Art theft controversy

The whole turmoil began when artist ANTIREAL accused Bungie of using her 2017 artwork in Marathon’s closed alpha.

This claim is already admitted by Bungie and has been blamed on a former employee. The studio pledged to “do the right thing” for the artist, but the damage had already occurred.

This is the fourth reported plagiarism occurrence in five years, according to Forbes, triggering considerable criticism of Marathon’s art direction.

This is not just simple plagiarism. They have copied the whole art style. ANTIREAL, who released multiple comparisons of her work to existing Bungie Marathon assets that go much beyond “inspiration” and are frequently straight 1:1 lifts of images, words, symbols, and even ANTIREAL’s personal logo.

They even pasted the original artist watermark in the actual in-game texture as well.

Also Read: Red Dead Redemption 2 rumored for Nintendo Switch 2 & next-gen upgrade

Morale in “Free Fall”

According to Forbes, they describe that Bungie’s morale has hit an all-time low and the vibes have never been worse in the studio.

Developers are fearing that this controversy and the Marathon failure could jeopardize the studio, especially after Sony’s $3.6 billion acquisition and the Concord disaster.

There are also rumors about the Marathon delay and after getting the mixed reaction from the alpha test feedback, calling the game “Flat.”

Five years ago, developers warned leadership about the game’s future and advocated for PvE, but they were dismissed, according to Tassi.

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