'The Mission Will Continue in New and Surprising Ways' — Marathon Game Director Joseph Ziegler Is Leaving Bungie

UPDATE July 18, 2026, 8:07 a.m. PT: Bungie has issued a statement following the departure of now-former Marathon game director Joseph Ziegler. The studio took to its development team X/Twitter account to share a few words about the project lead's departure and what it means for its sci-fi extraction shooter going forward. It began by thanking him for his work, while reassuring fans that Marathon will continue to grow. "Trust comes from being consistent - both in how we communicate and in whether players can actually feel the improvements we’re talking about. "We plan to maintain transparency through Marathon Dev Team accounts, and our goal is to keep the conversation flowing. Our next stop is the Mid-Season 2 update and Vault Breaker event early next week, but beyond that, we have a lot to talk about for Season 3 and the future of Marathon." Bungie promised to share more updates soon. In the meantime, you can see its full statement below. Hey all,We can't thank Joe enough for his leadership and contributions over the years. We've seen some questions about how things will go during this transition, and we wanted to call back to a post we made earlier this week:Trust comes from being