‘We are in it for the long haul’: Bungie says Marathon will be steadily improved for ‘many years’

Bungie has vowed to continue to update Marathon for years to come, stressing that it’s “in it for the long haul”.

Marathon was released earlier this month with Norway-based Alinea Analytics estimating last week that it had sold around 1.2 million copies.

Now, in a technical blog post aimed at helping PC players reach 120 frames per second, Bungie has committed to the game’s future, stating that it plans to continue improving it for a number of years.

“Marathon is the first DirectX 12 title that Bungie has shipped,” it explained to players. “We know that many of you have noticed how much Marathon has changed visually over the past year. Much of that change came through your feedback, and we want to take a similar approach to performance in Marathon.

“While we aren’t ready to provide specifics yet, we have already identified some smaller improvements that we can make soon, particularly to improve CPU performance. We also have longer-term changes planned that will further improve CPU performance.”

Bungie noted that its aim to release a steady stream of smaller updates instead of infrequent large ones, saying: “Our plan is to get improvements out as soon as we can, rather than wait to drop them all at the same time (even though this might make them less obvious).”

It concluded: “While we are very proud of what we have accomplished with the overall look and feel of the game since Alpha, we are in it for the long haul with Marathon. We look forward to many years of steady improvements to every aspect of the game. Thank you for taking this journey with us.”

While Alinea Analytics’ analysis last month found that Marathon’s pre-launch sales were slower than those of rival extraction shooter Arc Raiders, it also suggested that Bungie’s game had “settled into a respectable rhythm”, with a relatively stable daily player count.

VGC’s Marathon review calls it “a hostile beast worth taming”, stressing that there’s an enjoyable game to be found for those willing to put the time into it.

“Marathon is reminiscent of some of the toughest parts of Destiny 2, moments of overwhelming hostility where you feel endangered even while having optimal equipment for the task,” we wrote. “The type of challenge that reminds you that you can never be too safe, and that danger is always looming above your head.

“But it’s those contesting moments, in Marathon and elsewhere, that reflect a tale of resilience. One can only hope that Bungie is given the grace of time to actually put up a fight.”