Bungie have announced a change in director on their upcoming revival of their classic shooter Marathon, amid reports the studio is once again shaking up its creative leadership. Former Valorant director Joe Ziegler confirmed his appointment on Xwitter last night, replacing long-time Bungie designer Christopher Barrett in the role.
“For the last 9 months I’ve been working on Marathon as the game director,” Ziegler wrote. “We’re still baking, but I’m excited to share with you more info on the game as we get closer and closer to bringing it to all of you.”
The news comes in the wake of an IGN report that suggests the studio is preparing for another leadership shuffle in an attempt to get Marathon out the door before the summer of 2026. The game was recently delayed to 2025, but according to IGN’s sources, the summer of 2026 is when the final payouts from Sony’s acquisition of the studio will come into effect, at which point it’s widely expected there will be an exodus of senior developers.
Marathon has already reportedly shifted direction since Ziegler took charge of it, the IGN report goes on to say, with one source claiming the game will now have a cast of pre-defined heroes to choose from, rather than custom player characters.
Bungie were previously hit by layoffs last October, which included a number of Destiny 2 staff. According to Bloomberg, the cuts were partially due to the delay of both Marathon and Destiny 2’s The Final Shape expansion, the latter of which slipped from February 2024 to June.
