With Destiny 2 Stumbling, Bungie’s Upcoming Marathon Test Is Even More Crucial

For its next first-person shooter, Destiny 2 developer Bungie is looking back to a classic from its back catalog, but so far, things haven’t exactly gone smoothly. The upcoming Marathon has had a troubled development, resulting in the studio keeping word on its progress mostly under wraps for the last few months. But now, a select group of players will get the chance to see how Marathon is coming along in a new playtest, with signups available now.

Bungie is holding the next Marathon playtest from October 22 to 28 for players on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Anyone interested in joining the test can sign up on Bungie’s website from now until October 16, and PC players will have an additional signup window directly through Steam from October 13 to 26. Participating in the game’s previous playtests doesn’t mean you’ll automatically be able to participate in this one, so you’ll still have to sign up if that’s the case.

There’s no guarantee that signing up will reserve you a spot, and getting in also requires signing a non-disclosure agreement that prohibits sharing anything you see publicly (though it’s not uncommon for details to leak during these tests anyway). Regardless of whether anything comes to light during the actual test, Bungie says it will share an update on the game’s progress in the next few months.

As for what the new test will entail, Bungie says three maps and five character classes will be available. The test will also cover the game’s proximity chat feature, rebalanced combat, and “deeper environmental storytelling,” according to Bungie.

“That said, the Technical Test is a work in progress and will only include a portion of what’s planned for Marathon’s full release, focused on the early player experience,” the studio writes.

While Bungie isn’t revealing much of what to expect in the new test, one feature it’s set to include is a bigger deal than it may seem at first. Initially, Bungie said that it didn’t want to include proximity chat, which allows players to hear the microphone of anyone who’s nearby, for fear that it could be used to harass other players. However, it seems the studio has listened to comments from previous tests calling for it to be added, as it’s a common feature in similar games.

Regardless of what’s contained in the test, it’s a big moment for Marathon. Early impressions of the game have been mixed, with players by and large finding little to make Marathon stand out from other extraction shooters. Feedback after an early round of previews led to the game being delayed from its announced September 23 release date, with Bungie saying only that it still expects to launch the game by the end of March 2026.

Even before the announcement of the delay, Marathon seemed to be in trouble. In May, artist Fern Hook accused Bungie of plagiarizing their visual style as well as specific poster designs in the upcoming game. The studio soon acknowledged that Hook’s art had in fact been used without permission, claiming that a former employee was responsible. Following the controversy, Forbes reported that morale at the studio was at an all-time low.

To make matters worse, Bungie’s Destiny 2 is also in a bad place as Marathon’s likely release draws nearer. Its most recent expansion, Edge of Fate, has drawn a lot of criticism, leading to swaths of Destiny 2 players dropping the game entirely. That comes just two months before the game’s Star Wars-themed DLC, Renegades, which many players dismissed as soon as it was announced for throwing the game’s own lore and visual design out the window.

All that makes the upcoming playtest a crucial moment for Marathon. The fate of Bungie as a studio has never looked less certain, especially as live-service games in general have struggled to stay alive this year. Now, its best hope may be a game that’s already beset with serious issues before it even has a release date.