Wednesday, November 11th 2026
Bungie Hopes To Grow Marathon With Free-To-Play Week Alongside New PvE Update
It's been known for a while now that Bungie has been toying with the idea of a permanent PvE mode for Marathon, much like Embark has been for Arc Raiders, but it seems as though Bungie is playing things a little more by ear, with the game studio previously announcing that a permanent PvE mode would be coming to Marathon in December. In a recent Marathon developer update, Bungie spilled the beans on what the start of Season 2 will look like and announced that there will be a free week coinciding with the launch of the Symbiosis update.
The Marathon Open Play Week, as it has been dubbed, will start on December 7 and run until December 15, and Bungie is seemingly hopeful that this will allow players to try the game and potentially turn into long-term Marathon players. December 8 marks the introduction of the new Expedition gameplay mode, which is a PvE-exclusive game mode that allows players to "form a team with your friends and explore Tau Ceti IV with a more collaborative mindset."
In addition to the new Expedition mode, the Symbiosis update introduces a new speed-and-stealth-oriented Bishop shell, sweeping changes to the Perimeter map, and a new Crew Up even that will reward players with new cosmetics, including:
Bungie has more or less admitted that Marathon's launch was softer than Bungie and PlayStation had hoped it would be, and Bungie has been working hard to try to grow the player base and improve player retention, with testing for the much-requested PvE game mode beginning in July 2026 and getting extended, seemingly by popular demand.
Source:
Bungie
The Marathon Open Play Week, as it has been dubbed, will start on December 7 and run until December 15, and Bungie is seemingly hopeful that this will allow players to try the game and potentially turn into long-term Marathon players. December 8 marks the introduction of the new Expedition gameplay mode, which is a PvE-exclusive game mode that allows players to "form a team with your friends and explore Tau Ceti IV with a more collaborative mindset."
- Queen's Nest emblem
- Queen's Dominion Background
- Queen's Maw weapon sticker
- Cluster Bunch weapon charm
- Arata Vectus Destroyer skin
- Exterminator title
Bungie has more or less admitted that Marathon's launch was softer than Bungie and PlayStation had hoped it would be, and Bungie has been working hard to try to grow the player base and improve player retention, with testing for the much-requested PvE game mode beginning in July 2026 and getting extended, seemingly by popular demand.
3 Comments on Bungie Hopes To Grow Marathon With Free-To-Play Week Alongside New PvE Update
Looks like Bungie really want to ignore the wishes of their community (and not for the first time) and rather than keep beating/dragging a dead horse to water. They are going to fillet & sashimi it then mail it there one small peice at a time till they have the whole horse.
Bungie really really wants to die on that hill they mailed the horse jerky to the top of.
I predict some people might show up. But I dont think anyone is going to stay once free to play is over.
At any rate, Sony should just announce permanent F2P and that development will end on Marathon after the PvE update. Maintain it for a year or so; just enough to avoid having to give back mandatory refunds and enough time to milk the tiny playerbase before shutting it down completely and making it their 2026 tax write-off alongside Fairgames and Horizon Hunters. And their Fortnite-clone Team Gummybears that they re-hired former Bungie staff for.That's partly because Bungie's own leadership claimed they were tired of Destiny and wanted to make a new game. Sony gave them what they wanted; firing the Destiny team and allowing Bungie to try and make a new game. Instead, Bungie now had to crawl back to Destiny 2 and somehow figure out how to basically rebuild/remake the sunset content to work with the current version of Destiny, while also making hail mary claims like D1 Remastered for PC. All with the staff who have mainly only worked on Marathon.
Personally, I'm hoping for Bungie to be dismantled and the IP repurposed across the other studios with new single-player-oriented games based on Destiny and Classic Marathon. And maybe retask TeamLFG (made of ex-Bungie devs familiar with Halo and Destiny) to make Destiny 3.