{"id":2051115,"date":"2026-07-19T14:50:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T11:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2051115"},"modified":"2026-07-19T14:50:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T11:50:13","slug":"marathon-director-joe-ziegler-leaves-bungie-just-four-months-after-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2051115","title":{"rendered":"Marathon director Joe Ziegler leaves Bungie just four months after launch"},"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\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Marathon<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">Marathon director Joe Ziegler leaves Bungie just four months after launch<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">&#8220;Keep it weird, keep it real.&#8221;<\/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-art-3.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Marathon screenshot showing a storage cube and neon green pipe\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"marathon-art-3.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=\"Vikki Blake avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/1533038852.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Vikki Blake avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"1533038852.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\">\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\/vikki-blake\">Vikki Blake<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Contributor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-07-19T14:50:13+00:00\">July 19, 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=\"d837b65d-6d00-4904-b03b-3b773ebabe1f\" data-name=\"Marathon\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Marathon\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Marathon\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Marathon\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Marathon\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Marathon\" title=\"Follow Marathon\"><br \/>\n  Follow Marathon<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 director Joe Ziegler has left Bungie after three and a half years at the studio.<\/p>\n<p>In an <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Ziegler_Dev\/status\/2078162822559641797\">update<\/a> posted to Twitter on Friday, Ziegler announced Friday 17th July was his last day at the studio, and that he was &#8220;passing the torch of game director&#8221; to Del Chafe III and Julia Nardin, insisting: &#8220;both of them have been operating in a strong leadership capacity for the team and are ready to guide Marathon into the next chapter with an even better and brighter future&#8221;.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\" style=\"display: none\"><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>Marathon &#8211; Official Season 2 Cinematic Trailer.<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Kklmn7JbaqA\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m proud of them and I&#8217;m excited to see them helm the future of this crazy little world we&#8217;ve created together,&#8221; Ziegler wrote.<\/p>\n<div class=\"twitter_wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Hey everyone I&#8217;ve got a bit of an announcement to make. Today, Friday 7\/17, will be my last day at Bungie and I&#8217;ll be passing the torch of Game Director to the very capable and amazing hands of Del Chafe III, who will guide the game forward alongside the Creative Director Julia\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ziegler (@Ziegler_Dev) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Ziegler_Dev\/status\/2078162822559641797?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 17, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\" style=\"display: none\"><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>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;As for me, I&#8217;ll be heading to something new, somewhere else, and will update you on where and what soon,&#8221; he added. &#8220;I just want to say a deeply heartfelt thank you to all of you for supporting me and Marathon in our windy mission to bring a dark and terrifying space survival frontier to your screen.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The mission will continue in new and surprising ways so stay tuned for what this team has in store for you! It&#8217;s been a pleasure seeing all the stories you&#8217;ve created, all the clever ways you&#8217;ve found ways to murder robots and one another. Hopefully as I move onto new things, you&#8217;ll join me for those adventures as well. Much love to the Marathon community and to all my friends and colleagues at Bungie. May we cross paths again. Keep it weird, keep it real.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Before Bungie, Ziegler worked at Riot for 12 years, working up from game designer to senior game director.<\/p>\n<p>The news comes at a challenging time for Bungie, which remains mired in controversy <a href=\"http:\/\/eurogamer.net\/destiny-developer-bungie-lays-off-220-staff-roughly-17-percent-of-workforce\">following yet another round of layoffs last month<\/a>, this time affecting at least 292 studio employees. Those impacted included &#8220;most&#8221; of Bungie&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/destiny-2\">Destiny 2<\/a> team &#8211; after the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/destiny-2-final-update-big-player-boost-marathon-slump\">game&#8217;s final update in June<\/a> &#8211; as well as an undisclosed number of Marathon developers and other support staff. Bungie <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/destiny-2-developer-bungie-latest-playstation-studio-to-be-hit-by-layoffs\">previously laid off 100 employees in 2023<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/eurogamer.net\/destiny-developer-bungie-lays-off-220-staff-roughly-17-percent-of-workforce\">cut a further 220 jobs<\/a> &#8211; equating to roughly 17 percent of its workforce at the time &#8211; the following year.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/sony-bungie-marathon-director-lawsuit-settled\">ex-Marathon director Christopher Barrett announced a settlement has been reached with Sony and Bungie<\/a>, after he sued both companies for wrongful dismissal, claiming they had &#8220;deliberately destroyed [his] reputation by falsely, and publicly, insinuating&#8230;he had engaged in sexual misconduct&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"2\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Barrett&#8217;s departure from Bungie was first reported in March 2024, amid <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/bungies-marathon-reboot-gets-new-director-as-part-of-creative-leadership-shakeup\">word of a leadership shakeup<\/a> at the studio. However, it was later reported that Barrett was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/bungies-former-marathon-reboot-director-chris-barrett-reportedly-ousted-following-inappropriate-behaviour\">fired following an internal investigation<\/a> into accusations of inappropriate behaviour filed by &#8220;at least eight&#8221; female employees. Three months later, Barrett <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/former-marathon-reboot-director-sues-sony-and-bungie-for-200m-claiming-wrongful-dismissal\">filed a $200m USD wrongful dismissal suit against Bungie and Sony<\/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 director Joe Ziegler has left Bungie after three and a half years at the studio.<\/p>\n<p>In an <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Ziegler_Dev\/status\/2078162822559641797\">update<\/a> posted to Twitter on Friday, Ziegler announced Friday 17th July was his last day at the studio, and that he was &#8220;passing the torch of game director&#8221; to Del Chafe III and Julia Nardin, insisting: &#8220;both of them have been operating in a strong leadership capacity for the team and are ready to guide Marathon into the next chapter with an even better and brighter future&#8221;.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\" style=\"display: none\"><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>Marathon &#8211; Official Season 2 Cinematic Trailer.<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Kklmn7JbaqA\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m proud of them and I&#8217;m excited to see them helm the future of this crazy little world we&#8217;ve created together,&#8221; Ziegler wrote.<\/p>\n<div class=\"twitter_wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Hey everyone I&#8217;ve got a bit of an announcement to make. Today, Friday 7\/17, will be my last day at Bungie and I&#8217;ll be passing the torch of Game Director to the very capable and amazing hands of Del Chafe III, who will guide the game forward alongside the Creative Director Julia\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ziegler (@Ziegler_Dev) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Ziegler_Dev\/status\/2078162822559641797?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 17, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\" style=\"display: none\"><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>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;As for me, I&#8217;ll be heading to something new, somewhere else, and will update you on where and what soon,&#8221; he added. &#8220;I just want to say a deeply heartfelt thank you to all of you for supporting me and Marathon in our windy mission to bring a dark and terrifying space survival frontier to your screen.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The mission will continue in new and surprising ways so stay tuned for what this team has in store for you! It&#8217;s been a pleasure seeing all the stories you&#8217;ve created, all the clever ways you&#8217;ve found ways to murder robots and one another. Hopefully as I move onto new things, you&#8217;ll join me for those adventures as well. Much love to the Marathon community and to all my friends and colleagues at Bungie. May we cross paths again. Keep it weird, keep it real.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Before Bungie, Ziegler worked at Riot for 12 years, working up from game designer to senior game director.<\/p>\n<p>The news comes at a challenging time for Bungie, which remains mired in controversy <a href=\"http:\/\/eurogamer.net\/destiny-developer-bungie-lays-off-220-staff-roughly-17-percent-of-workforce\">following yet another round of layoffs last month<\/a>, this time affecting at least 292 studio employees. Those impacted included &#8220;most&#8221; of Bungie&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/destiny-2\">Destiny 2<\/a> team &#8211; after the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/destiny-2-final-update-big-player-boost-marathon-slump\">game&#8217;s final update in June<\/a> &#8211; as well as an undisclosed number of Marathon developers and other support staff. Bungie <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/destiny-2-developer-bungie-latest-playstation-studio-to-be-hit-by-layoffs\">previously laid off 100 employees in 2023<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/eurogamer.net\/destiny-developer-bungie-lays-off-220-staff-roughly-17-percent-of-workforce\">cut a further 220 jobs<\/a> &#8211; equating to roughly 17 percent of its workforce at the time &#8211; the following year.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/sony-bungie-marathon-director-lawsuit-settled\">ex-Marathon director Christopher Barrett announced a settlement has been reached with Sony and Bungie<\/a>, after he sued both companies for wrongful dismissal, claiming they had &#8220;deliberately destroyed [his] reputation by falsely, and publicly, insinuating&#8230;he had engaged in sexual misconduct&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"2\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Barrett&#8217;s departure from Bungie was first reported in March 2024, amid <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/bungies-marathon-reboot-gets-new-director-as-part-of-creative-leadership-shakeup\">word of a leadership shakeup<\/a> at the studio. However, it was later reported that Barrett was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/bungies-former-marathon-reboot-director-chris-barrett-reportedly-ousted-following-inappropriate-behaviour\">fired following an internal investigation<\/a> into accusations of inappropriate behaviour filed by &#8220;at least eight&#8221; female employees. Three months later, Barrett <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/former-marathon-reboot-director-sues-sony-and-bungie-for-200m-claiming-wrongful-dismissal\">filed a $200m USD wrongful dismissal suit against Bungie and Sony<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Marathon Marathon director Joe Ziegler leaves Bungie just four months after launch &#8220;Keep it weird, keep it real.&#8221; Image credit: Bungie \/ Eurogamer News by Vikki Blake Contributor Published on July 19, 2026 Follow Marathon Marathon director Joe Ziegler has left Bungie after three and a half years at the studio. In an [&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-2051115","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\/2051115","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=2051115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2051115\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2051115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2051115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2051115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}