Bungie has officially clarified that its upcoming extraction shooter, Marathon, will not utilize the “aggression-based matchmaking” system pioneered by ARC Raiders. During a recent hands-on preview event in China for content creators and journalists, Game Director Joseph Ziegler confirmed that while the studio is aware of the industry’s shift toward managing player behavior through matchmaking, Marathon will instead rely on social tools to facilitate player interaction. This news comes just weeks ahead of the game’s highly anticipated launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
The decision marks a distinct philosophical departure from some of its contemporaries in the extraction genre. Aggression-based matchmaking typically attempts to group hostile players together while keeping cooperative ones in separate lobbies. Ziegler, however, emphasized that Marathon is designed to give players the agency to dictate their own social standing. Rather than a backend algorithm forcing a playstyle, the game will provide features like proximity chat and internal communication tools, allowing squads to decide on the fly whether to engage in combat or form uneasy alliances.
This transparent approach to development follows a turbulent period for the project. After a closed playtest last year resulted in significant negative feedback, Bungie took the rare step of delaying the shooter indefinitely to overhaul core systems. The version of Marathon being shown now reflects a year of intensive refinement. Reports from the China preview suggest that the studio has focused heavily on improving enemy AI, tightening the combat loop, and polishing the visual identity of the game to meet the high standards expected of the Destiny creator.
With the release scheduled for next month, the stakes are incredibly high for the legendary studio. By opting for social tools over automated matchmaking filters, Bungie is betting that its community will find value in the tension of the unknown—a hallmark of the extraction genre. Whether these social features will be enough to curb the toxicity often found in high-stakes shooters remains to be seen, but the studio seems confident that player-driven choices will provide a more authentic experience than a programmed matchmaking gatekeeper.
