Bungie Finally Feels Confident About Hosting a Marathon Open Playtest Soon

Bungie’s upcoming PvP shooter is getting a reboot Marathon it’s less than a month away from its official release, and with this shortened timeline, the developer has been ramping up marketing and shows.

Marathon It was recently shown during Sony’s State of Play 2026 premiere in February, with a new trailer that focuses on the location of Tau Ceti IV and takes a closer look at the background of its abandoned colony, suggesting that the AI ​​did not work properly and led to the collapse of the colony.

A brief look at State of Play concluded with the announcement that Bungie will host an open preview weekend Marathon called the Server Slam, which starts on Thursday, February 26th, and ends on Monday, March 2nd, just three days before the scheduled launch on Thursday, March 5th.

Marathon it will also appear during next week’s Steam Next Fest, which starts on Monday, February 23rd, and ends on March 2nd, but this Server Slam indicates to Bungie that they are finally ready to allow it. Marathon it returned to the public after its mixed alpha testing in mid-2025.

Marathon Server Slam Explained

MarathonServer Slam’s playtest will function similarly to a public beta, as seen with previous Bungie games such as The futureallowing gamers from multiple platforms to play Marathon before the official launch to test its features and submit feedback for improvement.

Progress made during the Server Slam will carry over to him MarathonIt’s a full release, and players who complete the first mission during the playtest get a special badge highlighting that they were part of the first wave of Runners and unlock a Standard Arrival Vault full of cosmetics, cores, mods, and weapons.

When players reach level 10 during the Server Slam, they will unlock the Enhanced Arrival Cache, and when they reach level 30, they will unlock the Deluxe Arrival Cache, which, in addition to cosmetics, cores, mods, and weapons, includes a Deluxe Base Backpack.

Not everything is included Marathon it will be available during the Server Slam, however, as players will only be able to enter two locations, take the first five tier contracts, and play as only five of the six Shell Runners.

Once Marathon begins at the beginning of May and season 1 begins, players will gain access to two other areas, including the Outpost and Cryo Archive, the sixth Runner Shell, the thief, to unlock the full progress of all six teams, and be able to participate in the ranked mode, which will start later during the first season.

For PlayStation Plus players who participate in Server Slam, they will gain access to unique weapon charms based on Helldivers 2, The spirit of Yoteiagain Death Stranding 2: On the Beachwhile Steam and Xbox players will gain access to other exclusive charms that will be revealed later.

The next one

Bungie’s Marathon Reboot Gets New Release Date

After months of intensive testing and refinement, Marathon is finally expected to launch next spring.

Released

March 5, 2026

The ESRB

Youth / Blood, Violence, Users Interact