By Joe Ziegler, the director of Bungie’s forthcoming live service extraction shooter Marathon, states that there is significant potential for advancement in the genre, partly driven by the remarkable triumph of sandbox shooters and battle royale titles.
Recently, GamesRadar+ had the opportunity to sit down with Ziegler to discuss all things Marathon. We inquired why the team at Bungie is confident that it will become “the next major PvP experience,” given the rather niche status of the extraction shooter genre. It seems Bungie aims to draw from the success of expansive sandbox titles by incorporating deeper, more substantial narratives.
“I do believe that the potential is greater than where it currently stands,” Ziegler remarked. “A part of that is the fact that we have a whole generation of individuals who are maturing in sandbox environments. We have [battle royale] gamers, as well as those who engage with other sandbox shooters primarily during their formative years. For them, they are crafting numerous stories, but many of those narratives are shaped by the systems that those games utilize, correct?
“What we are trying to explore is, what if we elevated that to the next level? How can we create emotional narratives that will certainly rise and fall in various ways, and develop an emotional richness that may allow players to experience something new and different based on the things they already know?”
In a survival extraction game, players find themselves thrust into extremely perilous situations, often seeking loot that is vital for their survival. It appears that Ziegler and his team hope that sandbox gamers will become more emotionally engaged due to the stakes involved in Marathon.
“For us, when we discuss extraction, we are clearly referring to the session-based survival experience that leads to interconnected storytelling. This narrative we have developed within each session carries weight. We either retrieve loot or we lose it, regardless of the outcome, and that impacts the next session. Over time, you create a tapestry of interconnected sessions that weave together into multiple stories, forming a journey within this framework.”
For what it’s worth, GR+ contributor Austin Wood recently experienced Marathon firsthand and came away with a measured and cautiously optimistic impression, stating, “After playing Marathon for 8 hours, I don’t think Bungie’s extraction shooter will be the next Helldivers 2 sensation, but I’m not convinced it will be the next Concord flop either.“
Marathon is expected to launch on PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on September 23, 2025, featuring full crossplay and cross-save functionality. A closed alpha test is set to begin on April 23. The pricing details are still unknown, but Bungie has asserted it won’t be a “fully-priced title.”