Bungie tells Destiny fans not to buy Marathon as a donation
Head of product Josh Deane says the Destiny plan does not depend on Marathon's success, after a Q&A post led players to think a purchase would help.
Bungie head of product Josh Deane has told Destiny players they should not buy Marathon just to keep the studio afloat. The clarification came on October 30, a day after a long Q&A blog post about bringing vaulted Destiny 2 content back left some fans believing the franchise's future depended on the extraction shooter selling well.
The line that caused it
The post asked the community to unite and said nothing could help bridge Bungie into the future more than Marathon evolving quickly and becoming sustainable. It also called the December and March Marathon updates a formative period for the studio. Destiny players, who spent months watching Destiny 2's future swing back and forth, read that as a request to buy the other game.
Deane said the wording was clumsy "and that's on me." He followed up with a blunter answer: "In no way is the Destiny plan contingent upon Marathon." When one player said they felt pushed to buy Marathon and never install it, Deane replied, "don't buy Marathon as a donation," adding that "It's our job to show up for you." Principal community manager Dylan Gafner summed up the studio line as "Two cakes! One big community."
Where both games stand
Bungie has three Destiny tracks in motion: "celebration" content updates, a project teased as Destiny "Legacy", and a third effort shown only as redacted. The unvaulting work outlined in the Q&A is the most immediate of those.
Marathon, meanwhile, is still trying to find its audience. Its next big update, Symbiosis, lands in December, and Bungie has been testing PvE and Deathmatch modes while insisting that extraction remains central. The two communities have traded plenty of hostility this year, which is part of why the original message landed so badly.
What it means for players
The practical takeaway is simple: buy Marathon if you want to play an extraction shooter, not as a lifeline for Destiny. Bungie has now said on the record that Destiny's roadmap goes ahead regardless. The December Symbiosis patch and the next round of unvaulting details are the two dates to watch.
Source: IGN; Bungie (Destiny 2 Q&A); Josh Deane and Dylan Gafner (social posts).
