Rumour: Bungie cancels Marathon trailer and pre-order scheduled for June, preparing 'playtest roadmap' instead of beta
After the high-profile gameplay demonstration and the launch of the closed alpha version of Marathon, the community's reaction was far from unambiguous, and many reviews were openly negative. The situation was further complicated by a plagiarism scandal, when an artist accused the studio of using her 2017 work in the game's alpha build. Bungie admitted the mistake and promised to fix everything, but this story has already seriously affected the perception of the game by fans.
Here's What We Know
According to a new report by Paul Tassi from Forbes, Bungie decided to cancel its initial marketing plans for Marathon. The studio planned to release a new trailer and open pre-orders in June, but these plans were cancelled at the beginning of the month. The report suggests that Bungie began reworking its entire marketing campaign even before the plagiarism scandal hit the headlines. "The entire campaign needs to be redone," the report says.
The open beta version of Marathon, which was expected to launch in August, is also in question. Bungie is considering abandoning a single beta event in favour of a "public playtest roadmap" - a series of small opportunities for players to try the game before its official release. At the moment, no final decision has been made.
The report highlights The atmosphere is worse than ever: the Marathon scandals have brought down morale at Bungie. Sources describe morale as "free-falling" and note that "the atmosphere is as bad as it gets". Given the mixed reviews, the plagiarism scandal, and the ongoing review of the assemblies, the planned September release date is looking increasingly uncertain. There hasn't been an official postponement yet, but the likelihood of one is growing.
Source: Forbes
