What Does This Mean For Marathon?

holy right now Boni replaces Marathon director amid leadership shakeup fears of layoffs from valerin game director Joe Ziggler is replacing Christopher Barrett admid ongoing anxiety with Bungie following layouts last year the studio is now preparing for another shake up this time on Marathon his upcoming service game intended as its Next Step Beyond Destiny according to multiple sources familiar with the matter Bungie is in the midst of Shifting around its creative leadership on Marathon including removing longtime bungee designer Christopher bar from the games director role IGN and learn he is being replaced by former valerant game director Joe Zigler who left Riot games for bung in 2022 IGN has reached out to Bungie for comment on whether or not Barett will remain with the company Bungie has not yet responded to IGN's request for comments but shortly after we reached out Zigler confirmed his appointment as game director on X and Twitter for the last 9 months I've been working on Marathon as the game director he wrote we're still oh so for the last 9 months we're still baking but I'm excited to share with you all more information on the game as we get closer and closer to bringing it all all to all of you bringing it to all of you dude this is this is crazy news guys this is crazy news hey everyone fun update for the last 9 months I've been working on Marathon as the game director we're still baking but I'm excited to share with you more information on the game as we get closer and closer to bring it into all of you while this is going on sources tell IG that Bungie is pouring resources to Marathon out the door the game Direction has shifted somewhat under zeka's new leadership One Source says including moving away from custom player characters in favor of a selectable cast of Heroes a hero shooter Marathon Over Matter while upcoming Destin 2 expansion the final shape is also being prioritized there are growing fears and rumors that layoffs will immediately follow its release one person with knowledge of budgets at Bungie told me that nothing adds up and something will need to happen to curb cost unless the final shape does so well to cover the Gap and people can move to Marathon when Sony acquired Bundy the studio brought with it a number of other incubation projects including a mobile light game code named gummy bears and a new IP known known as matter according to sources matter was canceled back in 2020 but the team continued working on similar projects with slightly different direction until that to was cancer in late 2022 gummy bears meanwhile is currently in a holding pattern due to the ongoing company struggles within the company there is a growing expectation that senior company leadership will leave in droves in the summer of 2026 when the final payouts from Sony acquisition of the company take effect with this in mind there's a strong push to get Marathon out the door before it then and let whoever takes the Reigns after that it's Sony or Bungie worry about how it's sustained a marathon and a Sprint Bungie has found itself rocked by a number of major shakeups in recent years that have tanked morale at the destiny studio and left its future uncertain Sony officially acquired the studio in mid 2022 with a promise it would largely retain a sance of Freedom as an independent subsidiary while sources say that that's largely remained true bung has struggled to meet key financial targets detit to S under perform last year in October Bungie laid off roughly 100 of his 1200 employees and make greater cost cating measures that saw Marathon delay to 2025 and employee benefits slash further damaging the mood internally notably multiple sources at the time and since have shared that Sony has largely left the studio to sort out its own troubles and was not responsible for the layoffs with CEO Pete Parson's taking responsibility however sources at the time also told IGN that When leaders were asked if they had considered taking pay cuts prior to making layoffs decisions one responded that Bungie was not that type of company internally the cinnamon is now is only growing that the final shape needs to succeed for Bungie to avoid further internal T turmoil now the bunge oron responded to ig's request guys this is huge if you're wondering who Christopher Barrett is he has been the face of marathon the literally the face of marathon Christopher Barrett and his team were one of the was was one of the teams that contributed to the uh The Forsaken expansion and Rise of iron now I thought it was strange that not that I don't think Christopher barar couldn't do it but I did think it was strange that team that was such a PVE oriented team was going to be making an EXT fraction shooter so I felt that that was really strange now the fact that they're mentioning that it's going to be a hero shooter it just tells me that overall the identity of marathon is really struggling we don't care play the grandm guys this is a how is nobody saying that this is a huge deal this is a Hu how does no one else say that this is a huge deal This is Wild news the leading game director the one who we thought was going to give us the best Marathon experience ever the next best biggest IP Bungie doesn't exactly Give us new IPS is no longer the game director that's crazy to me this is all this I don't know I don't really know I don't know the identity of Marathon at this point again we had that conversation last year where I heard that twov streamers were not necessarily thrilled about their experience with marathon when they got to play it I got multiple sources that told me that I don't know if Christopher Barrett is going to be moving to Destiny I would love it if he came back to Destiny his his track record were Forsaken and Rise Von was really good and I felt like his team was actually better working on Destiny stuff rather than working on another game completely out of bung scope it's not like bung like yeah we have a huge history of making extraction Shooters that's uh marathon is just right up our Island now here's here's what we need to be asking because this kind of ties into that email that I got and the email alluded to the possibility of marathon not even making making it to launch but Ziggler's here now the fact that he's been working as director for 9 months that's very telling so maybe we will still see Marathon but yeah it's very concerning either way it's very concerning either way you know the fact that Bungie employees are concerned about getting laid off right after the final shape launch it's like what what kind of motivation is there to be to even be trying to get that expansion out the door and do even get it right the fact that a number of people have already left Bungie not even the people that got laid off I'm talking about people that voluntarily left we have a new game director for Destiny 2 now that being Tyson green and I'm excited to see what Tyson green does but you know um Joe Joe left Joe or Joe is on his way out this is it this is not good F Marathon who cares this is all that matters again that ties back into if we were to believe that email I got which everybody seems to be talking about CU they're like ah somebody wrote this on the toilet if we were to believe that supposedly Sony cares more about Destiny than anything else I'm not saying that a Sony Rand Bungie would be the best thing ever because I I do have some concerns I'm concerned that they would make certain things EX elusive then they would bring back exclusive items but when I hear that Destiny would be the primary focus that's all we want we want to a primary we we want primary focus to be on Destiny because we love Destiny Marathon hasn't given Sony or Bungie a single dime well not only has it not given Bungie or Sony a single dime it it it hasn't launched it was supposed to launch literally this year Sony wouldn't make Destiny an exclusive game they would just make certain items exclusive like wave splitter for instance so I mean it's not the worst thing but it does kind of suck cuz you know like exclusive strikes remember when we used to have that in Destiny exclusive strike like there would be like One exclusive strike that was Sony a wave splitter was was an exclusive exotic which is um not something I want to see return but guys I cannot understate how big of a deal this is this is such a huge deal Christopher Barrett has been held as you know as the savior of Destiny at times whether that's correct or not I don't know I I don't know maybe that faith has been place I don't know uh is he a genius creatively maybe maybe an extraction shooter was just outside of what he is used to make you know maybe you felt like this was a great time to tackle that challenge but this is a big deal and I'm really concerned for Bungie I'm concerned for you know any future titles and I'm you know I'm a concerned for Destiny too and the deaths man I this is all very very concerning I don't know if Christopher Barrett is still at Bungie I would love it if now he shifts Focus to working on Destiny stuff you know what if what if behind the scenes that forsaken team is working on D3 I know cope I'm coping right now probably but what if slap that like button like your mama told you [Music] [Applause] [Music] right [Music] yeah