Gaming

Bungie Indepedence On Thin Ice, Marathon Still Set For March Release

admin August 7, 2025

In June, Sony made the tough decision to delay the release of Bungie’s extraction shooter Marathon indefinitely. It wasn’t just because of issues that arose on social media of accusations of plagiaraism, but even the gameplay reveal for the game wasn’t exactly met with excitement among the shooter community.

Today, as part of Sony’s quarterly financial report, the electronics giant confirmed that Marathon is still set for release before March 2026.

Alongside that, a recent statement from a company executive has also confirmed that Bungie will be monitored more closely by Sony, which is a stark contrast to the independence enjoyed when the studio was acquired.

Sony Exec Says Bungie’s Independence Is “Getting Lighter”

In a Q&A session following Sony’s latest financials report, Sony executives were asked about the state of Marathon following the delay.

Sony was also asked about an update on Bungie management, as well as what the company would do in the worst-case scenario that Marathon was to be canceled completely.

Sony CFO Lin Tao answered for Sony and confirmed that Marathon is still set to be released in the current fiscal year, which ends on March 31, 2026.

Tao mentioned (via an interpreter), “First, about Marathon, how we factored it in the forecast, we expect the launch to happen within the fiscal year. But, having said that, this is not a commitment. No official announcement has been given yet.”

The exec adds that they are doing “modifications” in development, and they are targeting a window in the next three months to communicate about the game’s future.

Commenting about Bungie, Tao confirmed they are aiming to integrate the entire studio into PlayStation Studios completely.

“About the governance of Bungie, at the time of acquisition we were offering a very independent environment, so that was one way of thinking. However, thereafter, we have gone through structural reform, as we announced last year, so this independence is getting lighter, and Bungie is shifting into a role which is becoming more part of PlayStation Studios, and integration is proceeding,” Tao commented (via VGC).

“So in the long term, if you can see this as an ongoing process, the direction [for Bungie] is to become part of PlayStation Studios,” Tao added, confirming Bungie’s independence will be plucked away completely at some point.

For now, Marathon is not in any danger of getting canceled, as Tao said they are now “fixing the problems,” so they believe the launch will happen, though they’re not expecting it.

It’s been a rocky road for Bungie’s first game after Destiny 2. After years of development, Bungie unveiled Marathon this year with a deep gameplay look that failed to generate the sort of hype that they were expecting.

Since then, the game ran into other issues that finally convinced the studio to delay the game from its initial September 23 release date. Interestingly enough, a report surfaced stating that the game’s delay was a surprise even to Bungie devs.