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23h ago

Marathon Game Director Joe Ziegler Leaves Bungie as Leadership Passes to Del Chafe III

Ziegler left Bungie on July 17, passing Marathon’s leadership to Del Chafe III with Julia Nardin as creative director, a change that raises pressure on the studio to restore player engagement.

Joe Ziegler LinkedIn profile pic
Red-lit Marathon runner wearing a VR headset reaches toward a glowing symbol in a dark futuristic scene.
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Overview

  • Joe Ziegler announced that July 17 was his last day at Bungie and said he will move to a new, undisclosed role while thanking the Marathon community.
  • Assistant game director Del Chafe III will take over the game director duties and will work alongside creative director Julia Nardin to lead Marathon forward.
  • Bungie plans a limited experimental PvE mode called Vault Breaker to run from July 21 through August 4 and intends a full PvE mode to arrive in Season 3 as a primary attempt to rebuild engagement.
  • The leadership change follows a painful period for Bungie that included roughly 300 layoffs, winding down live development on Destiny 2, and an impairment recorded by Sony linked to Bungie’s recent performance.
  • Marathon’s player numbers have fallen sharply since its March launch, dropping from launch peaks of tens of thousands of concurrent players to only a few thousand on Steam, increasing the urgency for the new leadership and PvE additions to stabilize the game.