Marathon release date is now official: After Xbox accidentally spills the beans, Sony sighs, throws up its hands, and says yes, it's coming on March 5

We've learned a lot about Marathon over the past couple months, but one rather important bit of info we haven't been given is the release date. Sony has previously committed to Marathon arriving in March 2026, but has remained mum on specifics, presumably holding out for a big, flashy reveal that will serve as the metaphorical exclamation point capping off what has been a pretty successful pre-release campaign.

That has now changed: Marathon is coming on March 5. The date was initially revealed by a premature preorder trailer on the Xbox store and while it was quickly pulled, an official announcement rolled out a few hours later. Here's the new trailer:

The video is mostly cinematic, a stylish collection of environmental shots, fast cuts, and occasional bits of gunplay: Bungie is definitely going for a vibe here, and this trailer looks like it was built in a lab to drive hype and deliver the climax of a campaign to turn around what was looking like a full-on crisis for Bungie.

The initial Marathon reveal was, to use the technical term, really not great, to the point that even PC Gamer brand director and inveterate Bungie fan Tim Clark started to sweat. A long-awaited gameplay reveal didn't change anyone's mind, eventually leading to a lengthy delay, and it really started to sound like Sony had resigned itself to taking a hard kick in the ass on the whole thing.

But in December 2025, Bungie came out swinging with a sort of re-reveal, this one much more detailed than the initial unveiling and featuring numerous changes to the initial design. And it worked, at least to the extent that doom and gloom is no longer the order of the day. 'Excitement' is probably overstating it and Marathon is still facing a very hard road, but there's a sense among people following along that Bungie might actually pull it off. At this point, that's a significant uptick in the mood.

So, Marathon, March 5, now confirmed. You can preorder it for PC on Steam, for $40/£35/€40.