Bungie confirms Destiny and Marathon are not merging, “don’t believe everything you read online,” says director

A recent rumor suggested that Bungie was considering bringing Destiny and Marathon together under a single universe, potentially creating a connection between the two franchises. However, Bungie has now directly shut down that claim, branding it “fake”.

Marathon creative director Julia Nardin confirmed that the supposed leak about merging the two franchises is fake. Nardin is particularly familiar with both series, having previously worked on several Destiny 2 expansions before moving into her current role on Marathon.

Destiny and Marathon will remain as “independent entities”

As someone who’s worked on both Destiny and Marathon, I can confirm that the “leak” about us merging the two IPs is fake.

Julia Nardin, Marathon’s creative director

She explained that while the two franchises naturally share some similarities because they were created by Bungie, they remain completely separate properties. Nardin compared them to siblings that share the same DNA but still have their own identities. Her response was also reposted by Bungie communications lead Dylan Gafner, better known within the community as dmg04. 

The claim appears to have originated from a lengthy anonymous post on 4chan that was later shared on Reddit. Among several supposed details about Bungie’s future plans, the post claimed that the studio had internally considered turning Marathon and Destiny into a single IP. Just a thought, but Marathon’s player count has drastically dropped since launch, so perhaps players hope a merge between the two IPs would rekindle interest.

According to the rumor, Marathon could have been positioned around the beginning of humanity’s Golden Age, creating a connection to events that would eventually lead into the Destiny universe. The same post also claimed that ideas previously considered during Destiny 3 pre-production could find their way into Marathon.

However, the anonymous post contained several other claims that she didn’t specifically address. These included a possible move to free-to-play for Marathon in December, a new PvE mode called Investigations, additional content featuring raid-style bosses, a new Runner, and even Destiny-themed cosmetics. That doesn’t mean any of those claims are accurate, as they remain unconfirmed.

Bungie has already been making changes to its plans for Marathon. A larger content update originally planned for September was pushed back to December, with a smaller seasonal refresh expected beforehand. The studio has also moved away from a strict seasonal schedule as it continues adjusting the game.

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Abdul Haddi

Abdul is a tech writer and Editor for PC Guide, specializing in all things tech, gaming, and hardware.

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