Marathon: Art Director Leaves Bungie

Marathon by Bungie is one of those games that the market has been following with attention for a while, partly with interest and partly with perplexity, as we couldn't help but point out in our Special on the game. After several delays, the shooter now seems to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but in the meantime, its staff is changing.

Specifically, we are talking about Joseph Cross, the game's Art Director, who is about to leave Bungie: his collaboration will end on December 31, 2025, and the artist has already removed references to the team from his X profile.

In reality, Cross's departure is not his first from the home of Destiny: he had previously collaborated on the creation of concept art for the sci-fi game; he then became independent, only to return to the company in 2020 at the very beginning of work on Marathon, where he served as Director. Here are some concept art pieces he published himself in 2023:

Marathon Art Style (a short thread). First of all thanks to everyone for all the kind words and enthusiasm for the art style/direction in our announce trailer, it's been amazing to see. This was the result of many talented artists working together, with the support of an amazing pic.twitter.com/ePPi41KA6c

— Joseph Cross (@josephacross) May 30, 2023

The termination of relations with Bungie at the end of the year would therefore seem to be simply the conclusion of a pre-established period - after all, Marathon was supposed to be released this year... - which evidently was not renewed. When asked by colleagues at Kotaku, Cross writes: "I'm super proud of the project and what the team has accomplished over the past six years."

Marathon is scheduled for release in March 2026 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, and will launch with a new Art Director who will presumably also be in charge of the game's future - DLC, expansions, and so on. We currently do not know if Joseph Cross is already in contact for new positions and assignments with other teams.