New ‘Marathon’ Info About The Closed Alpha, NDAs And Open Beta

The Marathon vibes have been shifting a bit more toward the positive with A) Bungie spooling up some new cool marketing and bits and pieces of content now that Closed Alpha codes are going out and B) opening that Closed Alpha up not to be actually open, but at least no longer NDA.

What that means is that starting on Wednesday, April 23 and ending May 4, this will be the first, expansive look at the game past gameplay trailers and a handful of streamer/YouTuber footage. Thousands and thousands of players will be able to play, stream, record and discuss impressions as Bungie is now asking outright for feedback, while cautioning the game is not finalized with release still five months away. Plus as a live game, these conversations will always be ongoing.

Why did this happen? Per my sources, a few things were going on here:

• The Closed Alpha exists truly as a technical test ahead of the launch. They didn’t want it open now to everyone because they need to limit the number of players so things don’t totally break. They need at least a somewhat limited test like this (certainly not uncommon in the industry).
• Bungie did the NDA assuming things would leak given the scope of the test, but as long as it would be somewhat limited it would be “good enough.” (They weren’t gonna take anyone to court over it).
• After the reaction to the gameplay reveal, leadership was nervous but they tried to reassure teams. Ultimately, they figured it would shift the narrative if the NDA was lifted (I’m also seeing a ton of codes go out, plus friend codes, so I wonder how many Alpha “denials” are even going to happen). It does in fact seem to have helped.
• There will be an Open Beta likely in August, much closer to launch, where you will then be able to pre-order its various editions ahead of September 23 launch.
• At this time, as everyone assumes, Marathon costs $40 in the vein of Helldivers 2 (and yes, Concord). You simply cannot pull the trigger this late on suddenly making a game free-to-play even if it’s a common complaint. Not that it’s the plan anyway at this point.

So, that’s where we are, or as near as I can tell. The biggest question mark here is whether the Alpha can be a sea change moment with people actually getting to play the game themselves, and spread the word it’s actually good. Of course if it’s not impressive enough, that may begin a spiral. This would have happened anyway during the Open Beta, but doing it this way means at least there might be some time to course correct some commonly disliked elements, whatever those may be. And Bungie is saying they want to do that outright, as much as is possible.

It’s a pretty crunched timetable. One thing I am still not sure about is what’s going on with the “endgame” of Marathon which includes this supposedly much different fourth map that at least right now, does not appear to be launching with the game. I’m wondering if they will manage to get it out, but I don’t know if that will happen or if it’s even possible on this timetable, as it’s currently unfinished. For now, we’ll see how things go on Wednesday.

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