It’s been just a few months since Bungie ceased lively improvement of Future 2, bringing the sport’s nine-year lifecycle to an abrupt finish and angering many gamers within the course of. Bungie has heard and responded to this outcry by obliging one of many greatest fan requests for Future 2. The studio can be sharing plans to evolve its well-received however tepidly performing extraction shooter, Marathon.
In a developer video and studio weblog publish, Bungie studio heads Poria Torkan and Josh Deane acknowledge the fanbase’s resentment and plans to earn again participant belief.
Bungie has been creating video games for over 30 years and we’ve welcomed the communities which have shaped round them. Over the previous few years, we overpassed that, and there have been actual penalties. We misplaced belief, we misplaced unimaginable colleagues, and we overpassed what we ought to be prioritizing most, our gamers.
As a brand new management workforce, we should personal that.
We aren’t simply listening to suggestions, we perceive your disappointment. We’re not asking you to belief what we are saying as we speak. We all know that belief have to be earned via the standard of our video games, the choices we make, and the way persistently we present up for our gamers.
To this finish, Bungie plans to revive Future 2 content material archived within the sport’s digital Vault. This implies vaulted campaigns, locations, and raids will change into out there for all gamers once more. “We perceive that eradicating these experiences had a long-lasting affect on participant belief and pleasure of Future,” reads Bungie’s weblog publish. “Future 2 is extra than simply the content material itself. It’s a place the place gamers have constructed reminiscences collectively, shaped lasting friendships, and shared experiences which have stayed with them for years. We can’t change the choice we made, however we are able to acknowledge its affect and do the work to make it proper by restoring these vital elements of Future’s historical past.”
Nevertheless, Bungie notes that years of updates to Future 2 have essentially modified the sport, so bringing again vaulted content material would require work to make them suitable with the present model of Future 2. For instance, vaulted content material would require up to date lighting, fight encounters, combatants, and different renovations, which Bungie explains will take time. The studio guarantees to maintain gamers up to date on its progress within the coming months.
Bungie states unvaulting content material is “step one to put the muse for a way we reforge into new tales and video games that you simply all deserve.” Whether or not this takes the type of Future 3 or different tasks stays to be seen, however the studio will not be strolling away from this universe simply but.
As for Marathon, Bungie reiterates that whereas the sport is a crucial a part of its future, it was by no means meant to exchange Future 2. The studio acknowledges Marathon “didn’t attain as many gamers as we had hoped” and that it must evolve. To this finish, it has introduced plans to increase it to “a deeper survival expertise.”
“By means of the rest of Marathon’s first 12 months, we’ll proceed strengthening its fight, world, and aggressive pressure whereas giving gamers extra company in how they have interaction with the sport,” Bungie says. “Which means creating significant experiences whether or not you like cooperative PvE, aggressive PvP, or the unpredictable pressure of Marathon PvPvE.”
Bungie states it needs to work with the neighborhood to enhance and increase Marathon to suit a number of playstyles. It additionally states it nonetheless has many issues deliberate for the October Dusk Refresh and December Symbiosis updates. Extra updates relating to Marathon can be shared later this week.
2026 has been a difficult 12 months for Bungie. Marathon arrived in March to a usually optimistic essential reception (here is our overview), however as Bungie acknowledges, it has not retained the participant numbers the studio hoped for. This has solely intensified following the tip of Future 2, as some followers blamed Marathon’s existence for the studio shifting on from Future 2. To make issues worse, with Future 2 coming to an finish, Bungie laid off most of that sport’s improvement workforce. With Bungie addressing these realities head-on, it will likely be attention-grabbing to see if these proposed updates convey again lapsed followers of each video games.
