No PvE, No Proximity Chat - Marathon Playing It Hardcore

In a recent series of interviews, Bungie has made clearer plans for Marathon, the upcoming extraction shooter that will bring back the classic sci-fi IP. Joe Ziegler, the game's director, says that Marathon is being made from the ground up to be a PvP-first experience. The studio isn't afraid to say that it might not be for everyone, especially players who only like PvE games.

In an interview, Joseph Ziegler, Game Director at Bungie, discussed the inevitable comparisons between Marathon and Bungie's long-running Destiny series. He made it clear that Marathon is not a spiritual follow-up to Destiny 2 or a sneaky follow-up. Ziegler said, "We don't think Marathon will turn into Destiny 3. We don't want to just make a new game that replaces Destiny 2; we think Destiny 2 will be a success, and the people working on it are fully aware of what gamers want."

He then said that Marathon is made for players who like PvP interactions that take place in a sandbox. Ziegler said, "If you like Destiny and a lot of PvP sandbox games, then Marathon could be a lot of fun for you." "But if you play Destiny but don't care about PvP, it might not be the right game for you". He made it clear that PvP will be an important part of the game. "Player vs. Player interactions will happen." Someone else—another player—is going to shoot you at some point. 

In light of this, Ziegler confirmed that Bungie is fine with being open about the game's direction: "Not everyone can play this game." People who like PvP games, especially sandbox games, will enjoy this one. A different interview with PC Gamer also showed that Ziegler said Marathon would not have proximity voice chat. This choice has already caused some debate in the extraction shooter community.

Proximity chat has become popular and maybe even necessary in a lot of popular extraction games, like Escape from Tarkov and Dark and Darker. Live voice chat is a big part of the tension, strategy, and social interactions in these games. Because of this, Bungie's choice to leave it out raised eyebrows.

Because Ziegler wants to protect the player experience, this is the choice that was made. He said, "I think the challenge is how to make sure we're making that space safe for a lot of players." "We're so committed to making sure that we make the community a safe place where players don't just flame each other or do bad things."

Ziegler said that the studio isn't against the idea of proximity chat in general, but that they don't think there is a strong enough way to stop abuse in the current situation. Because of this, Bungie isn't ready to add the feature until they're sure it won't make the game more harmful to many people. "Until we have a solution, we're not ready to put money into proximity chat," he said.

The community has had a range of reactions. Many fans like that Bungie was honest about Marathon being a PvP-first game. People in the industry think that being clear from the start is a mature and honest move since games are often marketed to a wide audience at first before narrowing their focus after launch.

Fans of the genre are worried, though, that there isn't any proximity voice chat. Extraction shooters love the tension and unpredictable encounters, which are often made better by voice chat. Some critics say that taking away this feature could ruin the mood that makes the genre so interesting.

Some people think Bungie is being too cautious, which makes them think the studio is avoiding risk before creating a fully immersive experience. Some people, though, think that Bungie's focus on player safety is a good thing, especially since online harassment is still a big problem.

All signs point to Marathon being aimed at a specific group of gamers: players who like PvP games with sandbox-style tension and don't mind not having a lot of story-driven PvE content. It's still unclear whether this focus will help the game stand out in the increasingly crowded market for extraction shooters, or whether it will make it less appealing.

Bungie has made their point clear for now: Marathon might not be for you if you don't like PvP. And if you want proximity voice chat to improve the way you talk to your squad or negotiate, you might be let down when the game first comes out.