{
  "id": 7869341,
  "title": "Marathon creative director shoots down rumored merge with Destiny 2: 'Please don't believe everything you read online'",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/16/marathon-creative-director-shoots-down-rumored-merge-with-destiny-2",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-16T20:20:16.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "PC Gamer",
    "slug": "pc-gamer",
    "url": "https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/marathon-creative-director-shoots-down-rumored-merge-with-destiny-2-please-dont-believe-everything-you-read-online/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Recently, Bungie creative director Julia Nardin addressed rumors of a merger between Marathon and Destiny 2 on social media platform X. She firmly stated that such a merger is not happening, despite various online leaks suggesting otherwise. Nardin, who previously worked on Destiny 2, emphasized that while both franchises share Bungie DNA, they remain independent entities.\n\nThe rumors originated from a 4chan post that was later shared on the Marathon subreddit. These leaks claimed the two games would merge, undergo gameplay changes, and possibly transition to a free-to-play model. Nardin's post was also retweeted by Bungie's communications lead, Dylan Gafner, known as dmg04 on the community.\n\nNardin's response came in the wake of a delayed content update for Marathon, which was pushed from September to December. The studio has also postponed a smaller seasonal refresh originally scheduled for October. The Marathon team has been working diligently to improve the game's performance since its launch, but Nardin acknowledged the challenges the franchise faces. Despite the setback, she urged fans not to take online rumors at face value.",
  "summary": "A \"leak\" claimed that Bungie is looking into combining the two games into one single, big property.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}