Marathon creative director Julia Nardin has publicly denied a leak claiming Bungie plans to merge Destiny and Marathon into a single IP, calling it "fake" in a post on X. Her denial is narrow, though: it covers the merger claim and nothing else from the same leak.
Nardin, whose X profile describes her as "marathon creative director @bungie," published the post on September 16, 2026, at 17:05 UTC. At the time of writing, it had drawn 276,532 views and 3,319 likes, according to its public metrics.
What Julia Nardin said about the Destiny and Marathon merger leak
Her full post reads: "As someone who's worked on both Destiny and Marathon, I can confirm that the ‘leak’ about us merging the two IPs is fake. They share a lot of the same Bungie DNA, but like siblings they're also their own independent entities. Please don't believe everything you read online."
The post ends with a green heart emoji. It does not say where the leak appeared or who wrote it, and refers only to "the leak" in quotation marks.
Bungie's Principal Comms Manager, who posts on X as @A_dmg04, has been reported to have reposted the statement. That repost has not been independently verified for this article.
What the leak claimed, and what Nardin did not address
The leak has been reported to originate from a long anonymous post on an imageboard, which was later shared in a Marathon fan community. Bungie has not confirmed any of its claims.
According to those reports, the post alleged that Bungie had internally discussed folding Marathon and Destiny into one IP. It reportedly placed Marathon near the start of humanity's in-universe "Golden Age," leading into the Destiny timeline.
The same leak reportedly made several unrelated claims, including a possible free-to-play move for Marathon, a new PvE mode and Destiny-themed cosmetics. Nardin's post does not address any of them, so Bungie has neither confirmed nor denied those parts.
That distinction matters. A denial of the merger is not a denial of the whole leak, and the remaining claims still rest on an anonymous source.
Destiny 2 has already ended live-service development
The rumor arrives at a sensitive moment for Bungie's older franchise. In a May 21, 2026 article on bungie.net, Bungie said it was time for Destiny "to live beyond Destiny 2," and it ended live-service development.
The final live-service content update, Destiny 2: Monument of Triumph, launched on June 9, 2026. Bungie says Destiny 2 will remain playable, while the studio shifts its focus to incubating its next games.
No further Destiny 2 content roadmap beyond Monument of Triumph is stated on bungie.net. The end of those updates was followed by Bungie laying off 292 workers, which added to the uncertainty around both franchises.
Marathon's own roadmap is already changing
Marathon is going through changes of its own. Bungie moved its next major update, Symbiosis, from September 22 to December 8, as covered in Digital Citizen's report on the Symbiosis delay.
Before that, Bungie plans a smaller October Nightfall Refresh on October 6 that resets progression and the in-game economy. The studio also says it is "moving away from a strict seasonal schedule" to give the team more time to build and test features.
Bungie says players told it Marathon "needs more depth, more variety, stronger progression, and better reasons to keep playing over the long term," and the changes respond to that. That feedback comes after a sharp fall in Marathon's player count earlier this year.
What Bungie has not confirmed yet
The denial came from Nardin's own X account rather than a formal announcement on bungie.net. Bungie says a separate blog post about Marathon's future plans is scheduled for later in September 2026.
Until then, the leak's free-to-play, PvE mode and cosmetics claims remain unconfirmed. Bungie has also not published any Destiny 2 content plans beyond Monument of Triumph.
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