{"id":1830453,"date":"2026-03-17T12:38:50","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T09:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1830453"},"modified":"2026-03-17T12:38:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T09:38:50","slug":"its-not-quite-finished-yet-but-marathon-is-rolling-out-an-experimental-duo-queue-later-this-week-and-there-are-more-experiments-to-come","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1830453","title":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s not quite finished yet, but Marathon is rolling out an &#8220;experimental duo queue&#8221; later this week &#8211; and there are more experiments to come"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/marathon-2025\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Marathon (2026)<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">It&#8217;s not quite finished yet, but Marathon is rolling out an &#8220;experimental duo queue&#8221; later this week &#8211; and there are more experiments to come<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">Quite the pair.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/marathon-shells-1.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"An image from Marathon's launch trailer, showing the female Shell Thief in profile\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"marathon-shells-1.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Bungie \/ Eurogamer<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Connor Makar avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/tAtwiaBo_400x400.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"374\" height=\"374\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Connor Makar avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"tAtwiaBo_400x400.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"374\" height=\"374\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/connor-makar\">Connor Makar<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Staff Writer<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-03-17T12:38:50+00:00\">March 17, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"22d4da80-cbfb-48da-8b63-ca4c6bd7817c\" data-name=\"Marathon (2026)\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Marathon (2026)\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Marathon (2026)\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Marathon (2026)\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Marathon (2026)\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Marathon (2026)\" title=\"Follow Marathon (2026)\"><br \/>\n  Follow Marathon (2026)<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>Marathon will implement a limited duo queue later this week, as Bungie experiments with an alternative to lonesome solo play and hectic three-person teams in its new extraction shooter.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Ziegler_Dev\/status\/2033633870835593280\">Revealed by game director Joe Ziegler on X<\/a>, this duos test will be added starting this Wednesday, the 18th March. It&#8217;ll be a limited-time addition, allowing pairs to enter the game&#8217;s first map Perimeter to see &#8220;how the game plays with crews of two at a wider scale&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>This test is scheduled to last only two weeks, but Ziegler notes this may be extended or shortened. It&#8217;ll only be available to those opting into the duo queue, meaning those playing in trios won&#8217;t run into any sketchy crews of two.<\/p>\n<p>Ziegler also notes: &#8220;Some things will be a bit jank&#8221;, with the UX not being final and other quirks bound to occur. He expands the move, stating: &#8220;this is a bit of an experimental feature so we expect to learn some things along the way and make changes to future versions of this. This likely won&#8217;t be the final implementation of how it would look and flow in the game, but for now it was [the] easiest way for us to get it to you all to help us test.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re excited to run this experiment with you all. Pending what we learn, we&#8217;re hoping to expand duos as a queue in the future and we wanted to take this first step sooner than later so we could understand how it affects our game better before investing a lot more time in fleshing out the feature.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s also not going to be the final experiment conducted by Bungie, Ziegler concludes. So for now, it looks like a fun opportunity to grab a friend and try it out, providing data to the development team so they can figure out the best way to implement duo queues properly.<\/p>\n<p>This addition comes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/marathon-duo-queue-requests-heard-by-bungie-as-server-slam-concludes-with-a-bang\">after community pleas for the feature<\/a>, which Bungie confirmed it had heard and was looking into following the game&#8217;s Server Slam. It also comes just as the game&#8217;s fourth map &#8211; Cryo Archive &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/marathon-update-cryo-archives-added-locked\">is due to be added<\/a>. This, thanks to a community effort to unlock the challenging arena <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/arg-hunters-marathon-discord-cryo-archive\">through the completion of a complicated ARG<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>Marathon will implement a limited duo queue later this week, as Bungie experiments with an alternative to lonesome solo play and hectic three-person teams in its new extraction shooter.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Ziegler_Dev\/status\/2033633870835593280\">Revealed by game director Joe Ziegler on X<\/a>, this duos test will be added starting this Wednesday, the 18th March. It&#8217;ll be a limited-time addition, allowing pairs to enter the game&#8217;s first map Perimeter to see &#8220;how the game plays with crews of two at a wider scale&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>This test is scheduled to last only two weeks, but Ziegler notes this may be extended or shortened. It&#8217;ll only be available to those opting into the duo queue, meaning those playing in trios won&#8217;t run into any sketchy crews of two.<\/p>\n<p>Ziegler also notes: &#8220;Some things will be a bit jank&#8221;, with the UX not being final and other quirks bound to occur. He expands the move, stating: &#8220;this is a bit of an experimental feature so we expect to learn some things along the way and make changes to future versions of this. This likely won&#8217;t be the final implementation of how it would look and flow in the game, but for now it was [the] easiest way for us to get it to you all to help us test.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re excited to run this experiment with you all. Pending what we learn, we&#8217;re hoping to expand duos as a queue in the future and we wanted to take this first step sooner than later so we could understand how it affects our game better before investing a lot more time in fleshing out the feature.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s also not going to be the final experiment conducted by Bungie, Ziegler concludes. So for now, it looks like a fun opportunity to grab a friend and try it out, providing data to the development team so they can figure out the best way to implement duo queues properly.<\/p>\n<p>This addition comes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/marathon-duo-queue-requests-heard-by-bungie-as-server-slam-concludes-with-a-bang\">after community pleas for the feature<\/a>, which Bungie confirmed it had heard and was looking into following the game&#8217;s Server Slam. It also comes just as the game&#8217;s fourth map &#8211; Cryo Archive &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/marathon-update-cryo-archives-added-locked\">is due to be added<\/a>. This, thanks to a community effort to unlock the challenging arena <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/arg-hunters-marathon-discord-cryo-archive\">through the completion of a complicated ARG<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Marathon (2026) It&#8217;s not quite finished yet, but Marathon is rolling out an &#8220;experimental duo queue&#8221; later this week &#8211; and there are more experiments to come Quite the pair. Image credit: Bungie \/ Eurogamer News by Connor Makar Staff Writer Published on March 17, 2026 Follow Marathon (2026) Marathon will implement a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-1830453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1830453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1830453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1830453\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1830453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1830453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1830453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}