Bungie Announces Zero-Tolerance Cheat Policy for Marathon

No Second Chances#

Bungie announced via X that Marathon will implement a strict zero-tolerance policy against cheaters. According to the studio, anyone caught cheating will be permanently banned from the game, with no opportunity for a second chance.

The announcement comes ahead of Marathon's early March launch and follows recent cheating controversies affecting other extraction shooters in the genre. Bungie stated that while the bans will be permanent, an appeals' system will be in place to address potential false positives from the anti-cheat detection system.

Dedicated Server Infrastructure#

Alongside the anti-cheat policy, Bungie confirmed that Marathon will run on dedicated servers rather than peer-to-peer connections. This infrastructure choice provides additional security measures and should help reduce opportunities for certain types of exploits that plague peer-to-peer games.

The combination of dedicated servers and aggressive anti-cheat measures signals Bungie's commitment to maintaining competitive integrity in what will be a high-stakes PvP extraction shooter. Given the genre's emphasis on persistent progression and valuable loot, cheating can have significant impacts on the player economy and overall experience.

Launch Window Approaching#

Marathon is scheduled to launch in early March, marking Bungie's return to a franchise that helped define the studio decades ago. This modern reimagining as an extraction shooter represents a significant departure from the original Marathon trilogy's single-player focus.

Are you confident in Bungie's ability to keep Marathon's competitive environment clean, or do you think cheaters will always find a way around detection systems?