# Bungie shakes up Marathon team as director Joe Ziegler departs

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/marathon-game-director-joe-ziegler-leaves-bungie-in-latest-shake-up/
- Published: 2026-07-18T15:32:06+00:00
- Updated: 2026-07-18T22:13:33+00:00
- Original publisher: Polygon
- Original article: https://www.polygon.com/marathon-game-director-quits-bungie/
- Topics: Entertainment, Gaming

## Key points

- Marathon director Joe Ziegler quits Bungie four months after launch
- Del Chafe III and Julia Nardin take over as game and creative directors
- Marathon's player numbers have dropped sharply since its March peak

## Summary

Marathon game director Joe Ziegler has left Bungie, just four months after the long-delayed extraction shooter launched in March. The departure marks the latest upheaval at the Sony-owned studio, which has also ended development on Destiny 2 and seen Sony announce layoffs affecting most of the Destiny team and some Marathon staff, amid a difficult year in which Marathon has struggled to build a wide audience.

Ziegler, a former Valorant game director who took over Marathon in March 2024 from Christopher Barrett, said he was handing leadership to Del Chafe III, a 15-year Bungie veteran, as game director, alongside creative director Julia Nardin. Marathon peaked at 77,358 concurrent Steam players at launch but has since fallen to a 12,041 peak over the past 30 days, and Sony recorded an 88.6 billion yen impairment loss on Bungie, which it bought for $3.6 billion in 2022, though the company says it remains committed to investing in the game.

## Coverage

- [Polygon: Bungie shakes up Marathon team as director Joe Ziegler departs](https://www.polygon.com/marathon-game-director-quits-bungie/)
- [GamesRadar+: Marathon just lost its game director: Joe Ziegler is Bungie's latest high-profile departure](https://www.gamesradar.com/games/fps/marathon-just-lost-its-game-director-joe-ziegler-is-bungies-latest-high-profile-departure/)
- [GameSpot: Marathon Game Director Leaves Bungie At A Tumultuous Time](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/marathon-game-director-leaves-bungie-at-a-tumultuous-time/)
- [Push Square: Big Shake-Up on Sony's Struggling Live Service as Marathon's Game Director Departs](https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2026/07/big-shake-up-on-sonys-struggling-live-service-as-marathons-game-director-departs)
- [IGN: Marathon Game Director Joseph Ziegler Is Leaving Bungie](https://www.ign.com/articles/marathon-game-director-joseph-ziegler-is-leaving-bungie)

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.