With Destiny 2 dead, Bungie is trying to save Marathon's dwindling player count with a free-to-play trial

• Marathon is getting an Open Play Week with the launch of Season 2
• The free trial will run from June 2 to June 9
• All progress made will carry over to the paid version of the game

As Bungie axes Destiny 2, the studio has announced a limited-time free trial for Marathon as part of Season 2's upcoming release.

Last week, the Sony-owned studio confirmed that after almost a decade, it would be ending Destiny 2 development and canceling all future expansions. While the servers will remain online, the final updates will be released in June, but the game is essentially dead.

This news comes amid Marathon, Bungie's latest first-person shooter (FPS), continuing to see a rapid decline in player count on Steam. At launch, the game had an all-time peak of 88,337 players and now sits at less than 15% of that, pulling just under 4,000 players as of writing, according to SteamDB.

As the game's first Season draws to a close, Bungie has now confirmed that Marathon will offer its first Open Play Week that will launch alongside Season 2 on June 2, seemingly in an effort to draw in new players.

The free-to-play period will be for the full game and run from June 2 to June 9 on PS5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PC. Any progress players make in the trial will carry over to the paid version.

Season 2 will also introduce a new Night Marsh zone, a new Runne shell, weapons, and progression improvements.

Earlier this month, game director Joe Ziegler outlined Marathon's content roadmap and explained what Bungie will change going forward following the game's first two months of launch. This includes introducing new PvE experiences, making the game "less grindy, more rewarding," improving UI/UX, matchmaking, solo and duo play, the end game meta, and "smoothing out onboarding."

Beyond Season 2, which launches on June 2, Bungie will improve the onboarding process for new players, with Ziegler admitting that the game is "overwhelming to learn" and that the team is still "figuring out the balance mix of the endgame."

With the end of Destiny 2 and a Bloomberg report claiming that Bungie is not actively working on Destiny 3, let's hope that Marathon's free trial will bring in some much-needed numbers to keep the FPS afloat.