Bungie Says No Proximity Chat For ‘Marathon’ Revival In Order To Create “A Safe Space” For Players
In one of the surest signs that ‘the times, they are a-changin‘, where once their Halo franchise defined the cultural memory of ‘s–t talking in online gaming lobbies’, Bungie’s upcoming Marathon will lack any sort of ‘proximity chat’ feature in order to make the multiplayer revival of their long-dormant series more inviting to general players.
The studio’s first non-Destiny-related content since their 2022 acquisition by Sony Interactive Entertainment, the fourth entry in the Marathon series opens roughly 82 years after the end of Marathon 2: Durandal (which is considered the ‘linear’ ending point for the original trilogy thanks to the time and space-jumping nature of Marathon Infinity‘s story) and finds the residents of the series’ eponymous UESC Marathon colony ship having finally established a foothold on the fourth planet in humanity’s current solar system of residence around the Tau Ceti star.
But shortly after getting things up and running, a rogue AI sets into a motion a series of events that ultimately results in the new colony being attacked by the alien Pfhor, which ultimately results in the deaths of most of the colony’s residents and the ‘driving underground’ of what little resistance still exists.
Trading in the ‘narrative-based first-person shooter’ identity of its predecessors for one more akin to a ‘multiplayer extraction shooter’, the new Marathon game will put players into the role of ‘Runners’, cyber-augmented humans who use their unique upgrades to raid the ruins of the Tau Ceti IV colony on behalf of the highest bigger, and task them with fighting against both other Runners and the Pfhor forces over resources and territory.
However, while both the Marathon series and Bungie’s later Halo rhyme in a myriad of ways, including but not limited to their shared focus on the dangers of AI and their respective antagonists multi-species force of interstellar alien conquerors who operate on a strict subjugation-and-hierarchy system (an unsurprising fact given both series came from the relatively same development teams), it seems the former’s upcoming entry will differentiate itself from the Master Chief’s adventures in a major way: By going out of its way to cut down on its players’ exposure to online multiplayer toxicity.
“When it comes to prox chat, I don’t think we’re against the experience of it, to be fair,” explained director Joe Zigler to PCGamer following the game’s full trailer reveal on April 2nd. “I think the challenge is how to make sure we’re creating a safe environment for players inside of that space.”
“I don’t think anyone really has a good solution to that just yet.” he added. “Because we’re so dedicated to making sure that we’re creating a safe space where we don’t have players just flaming each other or doing terrible things to one another, I think we’re not ready to invest in prox chat until we have a solution.”
Drawing his thoughts on the subject to a close, Ziegler concluded, “I think that’s where we stand right now. Like, if it was magical and we could somehow come up with that solution, I think we totally would do it. But right now, it is a challenge that many companies are trying to figure out.”
At current, Marathon (2025), featuring just three maps at launch with one set to drop a little while after, is set to embark for the ruins of the Tau Ceti IV colony on September 23rd.
Players currently interested in the game can sign up for it’s upcoming alpha test via the official Marathon Discord server.
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