Bungie has just revealed the gameplay for Marathon for the first time, along with some extended conversations about the features of the game, and a look at creators playing live at a recent showcase.
Marathon’s release date was also announced, September 23, 2025, the same day as Borderland 4, which may seem ill-advised until you realize it may have felt mandatory to guarantee they would avoid GTA 6 (Take-Two also also publishes Borderlands).
But we also have a release date for the much-closer Closed Alpha, where keys are being given out and sign-ups are live as we speak. The release date of the Closed Alpha is April 23 and will run until May 4. Here’s how you sign up if you haven’t landed a key elsewhere:
- Enter the command /alpha in any of our Discord channels
- You’ll receive a private message in that channel just for you
- Follow the instructions in that message, which includes a unique link for you to sign-up online
- If chosen, you’ll receive an email from [email protected]. We recommend adding this email to your contacts ahead of time to make sure the email isn’t caught in spam. (These codes will go out a few days before launch).
So, it’s Discord-based sign-up. However, there’s more and some not great news in the next list of reveals:
- The playtest is under a strict NDA despite the game’s release in five months, that means no streaming or sharing.
- Getting a priority code doesn’t mean access, it means increased selection chances for access.
- This is a North American Technical Test where there may be more limited functionality and slower matchmaking outside of NA. PlayStation codes are region locked to North and South America.
- You get two friend codes for priority access. Again, priority access is not guaranteed access.
So yeah, I am a little perplexed about a closed-off, NA-centric, NDA-blanketed alpha so close to launch here now that we have a specific release date. You would obviously have to imagine there would be an open alpha or beta between the closed alpha and launch, but I do wonder why they didn’t just do that right out the gate.
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So, try your luck with the alpha. It may be tough to get into, and you cannot show anyone any of it, but you can see if you’ll be interested for when it arrives for real. Everyone else is just going to have to wait for something more open.
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