It has been confirmed that Bungie’s Marathon will not have proximity chat despite the developers wanting the game to be a ‘social extraction experience’.
The news of no proximity chat came via a new interview with PCGamer, game director Joe Ziegler told PC Gamer that they don’t “have a solution yet” when it comes to the toxicity that proximity chat brings to players.
“I don’t think anyone really has a good solution to that just yet. Because we’re so dedicated to making sure that we’re creating a safe space where we don’t have players just flaming each other or doing terrible things to one another, I think we’re not ready to invest in prox chat until we have a solution,” he said.
So Its Not a Social Extraction Experience?
The comments come following an interview that we published in collaboration with Jake Lucky, where in the same day of interviews Joe Ziegler told Lucky that they want the game to be “more of a social extraction experience”.
Ziegler explained, “The key thing for us was making Marathon a little bit more of a social extraction experience where there’s a lot value in playing with other people that you know or people that you want and you all feel like you can create that adventure together and we’re not trying to fragment you all the time, you know?”
In the interview, Ziegler gave the example of being able to be respawned instead of just watching your teammates complete the match, or another example of “data cards” where your entire team can cash them out together.
However, I think a big point is being missed here and the conflicting comments are a bit of a head scratcher. Proximity chat ADDS the much-needed social aspect to a game and while I understand Bungie’s stance on toxicity, surely players who don’t want to engage with proximity chat can just… you know… turn it off? Or better yet, just give players the ability to report others for toxicity. These are not new ideas and with the right infrastructure (moderation), they are the solution that Bungie is looking for.
At the end of the day, you’re never going to stop people from being toxic, no matter what you do.
Without proximity chat, Bungie is missing the mark entirely on not only what makes extraction shooters fun and exciting and to be honest… Makes the whole ‘social extractions shooter’ comment laughable.
Marathon is set to be released on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC on September 23, 2025.
What do you think of Bungie not having proximity chat in Marathon? Let me know what you think on the Insider Gaming forum, or post a comment below.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Bungie has explained why Marathon is an extraction shooter.
Looks like generic trash but throw Maximilian Dood and other influencers a bag and they’ll shill i mean he’s gone crazy with his Ronaldo hatred and Fatal Fury hypocrisy and now trying to fit in with kids and anime just creepy.