Sony is Still Putting Its Faith in ‘Marathon'
Bungie's Marathon is still coming out, and when it does, PlayStation plans on giving the extraction shooter a fair shot.
During a recent investor interview, Sony Interactive Entertainment head Herman Hulst assured the game would come out before March 31, 2026, when Sony's fiscal year ends. Touching on its recent alpha test, he descbied the feedback as 'varied, but super useful. […] The constant testing, the constant re-validation of assumptions that we just talked about, to me is just so valuable to iterate and to constantly improve the title, so when launch comes, we're going to give the title the optimal chance of success.'
Hanging over PlayStation is 2024's sci-fi shooter Concord, which shut down weeks after launch and later led to developer Firewalk Studios closing down. That's been just one of several botched attempts from PlayStation's attempts to enter live-service games, which includes several canceled projects and layoffs across its first-party studios. While acknowledging these 'unique challenges' and attributing Concord's failure to the 'hypercompetitive market' of hero shooters, Hulst talked up how they're avoiding the same mistakes with Marathon.
'It's going to be the first new Bungie title in over a decade, and it's our goal to release a very bold, very innovative, and deeply engaging title. We're monitoring the closed alpha cycle the team has just gone through. We're taking all the lessons learned, we're using the capabilities we've built and analytics and user testing to understand how audiences are engaging with the title.'
One thing Hulst didn't touch on, though, was the recent accusations of art plagiarism levvied against Bungie. In May, artist Fern 'Antireal' Hook released evidence alleging the studio stole assets she made from previous work and failed to credit her. After investigating, Bungie attributed the theft to the work of a former employee, publicly apologized, and said it would do 'everything we can to make this right' with Hook. It also promised to review all in-game assets and replace 'questionably sourced' art with original, in-house work.
With the mention of its arriving before the fiscal year ends, Marathon may be delayed out of its current September 23 launch. At time of writing, Bungie and PlayStation have kept mum on a potential delay, but the game failed to make an appearance at PlayStation's recent State of Play in early June.
[via IGN]
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
Big hype, tiny plushie: Visualizing the Labubu craze in 5 charts
Labubus — the fluffy, sharp-toothed figurines adorning belt loops and bags across the globe — aren't just toys. They've become a cultural and commercial phenomenon. The creepy-cute collectibles, typically sold in 'blind boxes' that conceal the design inside, have gone from niche toy to global craze, propelling a revenue explosion at Pop Mart, the Chinese company behind the product. And for collectors chasing the rarest versions — like the elusive 'secret' Labubu — the price of obsession can add up fast. In 2024, the company reported revenue of more than $1.8 billion, including $420 million outside China, in part because of Labubu sales. CNN unpacks how this tiny plushie helped fuel a billion-dollar business. The furious interest in the brand has fueled many new offerings from Pop Mart for US customers in recent years, according to an analysis of the company's products, which lists release dates in their descriptions online. The cumulative number of dolls, figurines and related 'The Monsters' products, which includes Labubu, has more than doubled in recent years, according to a CNN analysis. Part of the demand is perhaps driven by a clever sales tactic. Popular Labubu blind boxes offer six possible designs — and a chance at a 'secret' variant. Pop Mart advertises that buyers have a 1-in-72 chance of unboxing these coveted versions. For collectors chasing those dolls, the price of obsession can theoretically add up fast. A CNN simulation found that scoring one could cost the average buyer around $2,000. To help illustrate how rare and potentially expensive these items can be, CNN used a computer script to simulate 10,000 buyers and how much they would need to spend before unboxing one. Some people in this mock sale got lucky early. Others had to keep buying — dozens, sometimes hundreds of times — to succeed. Despite the boom in demand and new products, availability at Pop Mart's online and retail stores hasn't kept pace. The company lists nearly 100 products in its 'The Monsters' series on its website for US customers. Yet only a handful of the toys were in stock this week, when a flash sale of two of the company's most popular Labubus sold out rapidly. Though the scarcity of furry figurines is a central part of the Labubu ecoystem, reseller communities online and in local collector shops keep buyers hooked. The online seller eBay, for example, has more than 19,000 Labubu products — many of them listed at higher prices than on Pop Mart. And online search interest in Labubu has also skyrocketed in the last year, especially in California, Nevada, Texas and Hawaii, according to Google Trends. CNN's Olivia Kemp contributed reporting to this story.
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
Big hype, tiny plushie: Visualizing the Labubu craze in 5 charts
Labubus — the fluffy, sharp-toothed figurines adorning belt loops and bags across the globe — aren't just toys. They've become a cultural and commercial phenomenon. The creepy-cute collectibles, typically sold in 'blind boxes' that conceal the design inside, have gone from niche toy to global craze, propelling a revenue explosion at Pop Mart, the Chinese company behind the product. And for collectors chasing the rarest versions — like the elusive 'secret' Labubu — the price of obsession can add up fast. In 2024, the company reported revenue of more than $1.8 billion, including $420 million outside China, in part because of Labubu sales. CNN unpacks how this tiny plushie helped fuel a billion-dollar business. The furious interest in the brand has fueled many new offerings from Pop Mart for US customers in recent years, according to an analysis of the company's products, which lists release dates in their descriptions online. The cumulative number of dolls, figurines and related 'The Monsters' products, which includes Labubu, has more than doubled in recent years, according to a CNN analysis. Part of the demand is perhaps driven by a clever sales tactic. Popular Labubu blind boxes offer six possible designs — and a chance at a 'secret' variant. Pop Mart advertises that buyers have a 1-in-72 chance of unboxing these coveted versions. For collectors chasing those dolls, the price of obsession can theoretically add up fast. A CNN simulation found that scoring one could cost the average buyer around $2,000. To help illustrate how rare and potentially expensive these items can be, CNN used a computer script to simulate 10,000 buyers and how much they would need to spend before unboxing one. Some people in this mock sale got lucky early. Others had to keep buying — dozens, sometimes hundreds of times — to succeed. Despite the boom in demand and new products, availability at Pop Mart's online and retail stores hasn't kept pace. The company lists nearly 100 products in its 'The Monsters' series on its website for US customers. Yet only a handful of the toys were in stock this week, when a flash sale of two of the company's most popular Labubus sold out rapidly. Though the scarcity of furry figurines is a central part of the Labubu ecoystem, reseller communities online and in local collector shops keep buyers hooked. The online seller eBay, for example, has more than 19,000 Labubu products — many of them listed at higher prices than on Pop Mart. And online search interest in Labubu has also skyrocketed in the last year, especially in California, Nevada, Texas and Hawaii, according to Google Trends. CNN's Olivia Kemp contributed reporting to this story.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
😅 Not here, Yamal! Barça star plays with kids in Rocinha and struggles
😅 Not here, Yamal! Barça star plays with kids in Rocinha and struggles The forward Lamine Yamal is LIVING. On vacation in Brazil, the Barcelona star has been doing it all. After playing footvolley with Neymar, visiting tourist spots, going to the market... Yamal played soccer with kids in Rocinha. Advertisement And the youngster didn't have it easy. In a video that went viral on social media, Yamal tried to dribble past a child and... got dispossessed. Lamine Yamal took advantage of Barcelona's break to travel to Brazil and fulfill his dream of meeting his idol Neymar. The duo played footvolley, faced off on a 'mini basketball' machine, enjoyed the pool... Check out the video shared by Yamal: Out of the Club World Cup, Lamine Yamal's Barça will kick off the 2025/26 season at the end of July, with a tour of Asia. The Catalan club's first test will be a friendly against Vissel Kobe, on July 27, a Sunday, in Japan. Advertisement This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here. 📸 David Ramos - 2025 Getty Images
