Bungie released an entire blog post today going deep into the specifics of how networking and security will be operated in their upcoming Marathon, and it’s going to be rough for cheaters. As confirmed in the blog and over on their social media, anyone who is found cheating in Marathon will be banned immediately and permanently. There will be no second chances or warnings given, and players will no longer have access to the highly anticipated game despite their purchase.
This particular rule has been one of plentiful discussion today amongst Marathon fans for how it differs to that of fellow extraction shooter ARC Raiders’ system for dealing with cheaters. In ARC Raiders, players get a three-strike system that bans them for 30 days after their first cheating incident, 60 days following their second and then only issues permanent bans on the third case of cheating. Marathon instead opts to cut out the option for rehabilitation of cheaters, which will hopefully deter them from even trying in the first place.
Going deeper into the networking behind Marathon, a “fog of war” limits individual player system knowledge of their surroundings, which will reduce the effectiveness of cheats and hacks that mark enemies and loot through walls. Additionally, Bungie has rebuilt their existing game security stack for Marathon given its live service nature, in an attempt to ensure that cheaters, and only real cheaters, are caught. Alongside these security changes, the studio also confirmed that you can reconnect to Marathon servers to continue your games if you lose connection during the game.
We’re just under two weeks away from the full launch of Marathon on March 5, but it’ll be in our hands sooner than that thanks to an Open Beta! The Marathon Server Slam will go live later this week on February 26 at 10AM PT, giving players on all platforms a chance to dive into the action and try a limited section of the game for themselves.
