{"id":1937080,"date":"2026-05-15T13:46:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T10:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1937080"},"modified":"2026-05-15T13:46:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T10:46:26","slug":"marathon-overwhelming-for-newcomers-director-admits-as-plans-for-pve-and-pvp-lite-modes-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1937080","title":{"rendered":"Marathon &#8220;overwhelming&#8221; for newcomers, director admits as plans for PvE and PvP-lite modes revealed"},"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\">Marathon &#8220;overwhelming&#8221; for newcomers, director admits as plans for PvE and PvP-lite modes revealed<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">Big strides.<\/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-arachne.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Marathon Arachne guy holding a knife, is very red and evil looking.\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"marathon-arachne.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Bungie<\/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=\"2026-05-15T13:46:26+00:00\">May 15, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/marathon-future-seasons-pve-pvp-lite?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          12 comments<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/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 game director Joe Ziegler has shared some of Bungie&#8217;s plans to improve its divisive extraction shooter, which include the introduction of PvE and PvP-lite game modes as alternatives to the &#8220;overwhelming&#8221; core experience.<\/p>\n<p>This comes from a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MarathonTheGame\/status\/2055016173008486552\">lengthy article written by Ziegler<\/a>, breaking down what went well, what Bungie has learned, and where the team wants to go with future updates.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>You can watch a cinematic trailer for Marathon here.<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2rY9qbQxCn0\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As for what went well, Ziegler highlighted the launch of several game modes and features, including the end game <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/marathon-cryo-archive-what-you-need-to-know\">Cryo Archive map<\/a>, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/marathons-ranked-system-explained-math-test\">ranked mode<\/a>, experimental <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/marathon-duo-queue-requests-heard-by-bungie-as-server-slam-concludes-with-a-bang\">duo queues<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/marathon-carri-community-reaction-season-1-update\">C.A.R.R.I system<\/a>. He also pointed toward the &#8220;core community&#8221; which has formed around the game, expressing gratitude for players&#8217; passionate enthusiasm.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Moving on to what the team had learned, Ziegler began with the admission &#8220;Marathon is overwhelming to learn&#8221;, and that it&#8217;s &#8220;easy to hit a wall if you&#8217;re not spending lots of time, don&#8217;t have a consistent crew, or are not super skilled&#8221;. He also acknowledged the desire from players to not want to &#8220;sweat&#8221; (try hard) all the time, and the challenges the team has faced balancing the end game with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/marathon-grenade-stack-reduction\">issues like grenade spam<\/a>. Later in the article, Ziegler noted season three is where much of the revisions to Marathon&#8217;s early experience will take place.<\/p>\n<p>From here Ziegler highlighted where the Marathon development team wants to take the game starting with Season 2, writing: &#8220;First and foremost, we want to continue to evolve the challenging and tense experience that our players have come to love while leaning further into the wild world we&#8217;ve created.&#8221; To that end, Bungie is adding a new Runner Shell, a new nighttime Dire Marsh map variant, new weapons and equipment, a tweak to the Runner stat system, and increased progression rates for your faction and runner levels.<\/p>\n<p>Season two brings other substantial shifts for Marathon. Its duo queue &#8211; which had been an experimental feature throughout season one &#8211; will now be finalised as a rotating game mode. In its place will come two new experimental alternatives to the core extraction shooter: a PvE-focused mode where several crews collaborate to achieve objectives, and a PvP-lite mode where fighting other players takes a lesser focus.<\/p>\n<p>Near the end of the piece, a few additional interesting breadcrumbs are scattered, including a note that season four will focus on &#8220;building more depth into the existing extraction loop&#8221;, while season five will focus on &#8220;the whole ecosystem of (PV(P)VE) play together and evolving our weird sci-fi world in new ways.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"2\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>All in all, it&#8217;s a chunky bit of insight into the thought process going on at Bungie, which comes at a time when concerns are floating freely about the game&#8217;s longevity. After all, Ziegler&#8217;s post comes only days after Bungie&#8217;s owner Sony announced it had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/bungie-marathon-destiny-765-million-impairment-loss-sony\">incurred a $765m impairment loss from its ownership of the studio<\/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 game director Joe Ziegler has shared some of Bungie&#8217;s plans to improve its divisive extraction shooter, which include the introduction of PvE and PvP-lite game modes as alternatives to the &#8220;overwhelming&#8221; core experience.<\/p>\n<p>This comes from a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MarathonTheGame\/status\/2055016173008486552\">lengthy article written by Ziegler<\/a>, breaking down what went well, what Bungie has learned, and where the team wants to go with future updates.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>You can watch a cinematic trailer for Marathon here.<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2rY9qbQxCn0\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As for what went well, Ziegler highlighted the launch of several game modes and features, including the end game <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/marathon-cryo-archive-what-you-need-to-know\">Cryo Archive map<\/a>, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/marathons-ranked-system-explained-math-test\">ranked mode<\/a>, experimental <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/marathon-duo-queue-requests-heard-by-bungie-as-server-slam-concludes-with-a-bang\">duo queues<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/marathon-carri-community-reaction-season-1-update\">C.A.R.R.I system<\/a>. He also pointed toward the &#8220;core community&#8221; which has formed around the game, expressing gratitude for players&#8217; passionate enthusiasm.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Moving on to what the team had learned, Ziegler began with the admission &#8220;Marathon is overwhelming to learn&#8221;, and that it&#8217;s &#8220;easy to hit a wall if you&#8217;re not spending lots of time, don&#8217;t have a consistent crew, or are not super skilled&#8221;. He also acknowledged the desire from players to not want to &#8220;sweat&#8221; (try hard) all the time, and the challenges the team has faced balancing the end game with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/marathon-grenade-stack-reduction\">issues like grenade spam<\/a>. Later in the article, Ziegler noted season three is where much of the revisions to Marathon&#8217;s early experience will take place.<\/p>\n<p>From here Ziegler highlighted where the Marathon development team wants to take the game starting with Season 2, writing: &#8220;First and foremost, we want to continue to evolve the challenging and tense experience that our players have come to love while leaning further into the wild world we&#8217;ve created.&#8221; To that end, Bungie is adding a new Runner Shell, a new nighttime Dire Marsh map variant, new weapons and equipment, a tweak to the Runner stat system, and increased progression rates for your faction and runner levels.<\/p>\n<p>Season two brings other substantial shifts for Marathon. Its duo queue &#8211; which had been an experimental feature throughout season one &#8211; will now be finalised as a rotating game mode. In its place will come two new experimental alternatives to the core extraction shooter: a PvE-focused mode where several crews collaborate to achieve objectives, and a PvP-lite mode where fighting other players takes a lesser focus.<\/p>\n<p>Near the end of the piece, a few additional interesting breadcrumbs are scattered, including a note that season four will focus on &#8220;building more depth into the existing extraction loop&#8221;, while season five will focus on &#8220;the whole ecosystem of (PV(P)VE) play together and evolving our weird sci-fi world in new ways.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"2\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>All in all, it&#8217;s a chunky bit of insight into the thought process going on at Bungie, which comes at a time when concerns are floating freely about the game&#8217;s longevity. After all, Ziegler&#8217;s post comes only days after Bungie&#8217;s owner Sony announced it had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/bungie-marathon-destiny-765-million-impairment-loss-sony\">incurred a $765m impairment loss from its ownership of the studio<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Marathon (2026) Marathon &#8220;overwhelming&#8221; for newcomers, director admits as plans for PvE and PvP-lite modes revealed Big strides. Image credit: Bungie News by Connor Makar Staff Writer Published on May 15, 2026 12 comments Follow Marathon (2026) Marathon game director Joe Ziegler has shared some of Bungie&#8217;s plans to improve its divisive extraction [&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-1937080","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\/1937080","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=1937080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1937080\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1937080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1937080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1937080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}