Bungie is reportedly in the midst of a creative leadership shakeup that has resulted in the studio replacing game directors on its PvP reinvention of the classic '90s shooter series Marathon, and it has now been confirmed that the former Valorant game director Joe Ziegler will fill the role.
Bungie designer Christopher Barrett previously helmed the project, described as a “sci-fi PvP extraction shooter,” but when reports began circulating that he was no longer playing the role, Joe Ziegler took to social media to confirm He was now in the game director's chair.
“For the past nine months I have been working on Marathon as a game director,” Ziegler wrote in a post on Twitter/X. “We're still baking, but I'm excited to share with you more information about the game as we get closer to offering it to all of you.”
Marathon – Announce Trailer | PS5 and PC gamesAccording IGN Sources, Ziegler's appointment is part of a shakeup of creative leadership at Bungie, which comes amid “ongoing anxiety” following last year's layoffs at the studio. Those layoffs caused 100 Bungie employees to lose their jobs in what Bungie boss Pete Parsons later described as a “sad day” for the studio, a statement that was considered tone-deaf at the time.
Bungie's layoffs reportedly followed declining Destiny 2 player numbers, along with disappointing pre-order numbers for this year's The Final Shape expansion. Shortly after confirming the job cuts, Bungie announced it would delay the release of The Final Shape by four months, while Marathon, the live-service studio's next big bet, was pushed back to 2025.
