Joe Ziegler, game director on Marathon, has announced that he’s departed developer Bungie just four months after the extraction shooter launched.
Speaking on social media, Ziegler revealed that he’s joined another project and that Marathon will now be headed by former assistant game directorDel Chafe III and creative director Julia Nardin.
Both of them have been operating in a strong leadership capacity for the team and are ready to guide Marathon into the next chapter with an even better and brighter future. I’m proud of them and I’m excited to see them helm the future of this crazy little world we’ve created together. As for me, I’ll be heading to something new, somewhere else, and will update you on where and what soon.
I just want to say a deeply heartfelt thank you to all of you for supporting me and Marathon in our windy mission to bring a dark and terrifying space survival frontier to your screen. The mission will continue in new and surprising ways so stay tuned for what this team has in store for you!
Marathon was released for PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X/S in March 2026, and you can read our full review here. Despite picking up a strong critical reception, Marathon has struggled to drive strong numbers despite a loyal fan base of players, with its second season launch and free week failing to stimulate engagement.
Bungie recently announced that it was ending support for Destiny 2 as it moves on to other projects, and also confirmed that it was laying off a number of staff that worked on the shared-world shooter.
[Source – Joe Ziegler on X via Eurogamer]