Marathon’s Season 2 Launch And Free Week Is A Hugely Important Test

InnovationGamingMarathon’s Season 2 Launch And Free Week Is A Hugely Important TestByPaul Tassi,Senior Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. News and opinion about video games, television, movies and the internet.Follow AuthorJun 01, 2026, 10:39am EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.MarathonBungieWe are 24 hours away from the launch of season 2 of Marathon, Bungie’s extraction shooter, which is trying to expand its playerbase beyond a hardcore niche.Season 2 would have been a big enough test on its own to see how many people from its original launch may return, and how big the increase is compared to the last few “baseline” weeks.But a playercount wrench is being thrown into the works, as Bungie has now made this Marathon’s first free week, not weekend, which will begin with the season 2 launch on June 2, tomorrow, and run through the following week. Progress made would be carried over to a purchase of the $40 game if players are convinced to stay on board. So, we’re also going to see a surge of free-to-play players, where seeing that level of interest is obviously key.Finally, if that wasn’t enough, this season 2 launch comes just after the reveal that Bungie will cease development on Destiny 2 after an update next week on June 9. The situation has A) generated some amount of anger at Bungie and at Marathon specifically for being the game “chosen” over Destiny for future development, and B) the June 9 update for Destiny looks amazing, and could pull people from Marathon (a large portion of which are Destiny players) back to that original game.So, it’s going to be a bit chaotic, to put it lightly. The season looks good. Its new defensive runner is neat. The new battle options for the night map are cool. There appear to be Runner zombies as new enemies to attack players. But people have to show up.MarathonBungieMORE FOR YOUThe numbers here...