Marathon Season 2 launch hit by outages, Bungie offers kits

The launch of Marathon's second season on June 2 was marred by widespread server outages and technical issues, disrupting the game for hours on a day that also marked the start of a critical free-to-play promotional week. Developer Bungie was forced to take the game offline for emergency maintenance after players were inundated with error codes, leading to disconnections and lost in-game loot.

The problems began shortly after the Season 2 update, named "Nightfall," went live. Players reported being kicked from matches by errors with animal-themed codes such as "Weasel," "Monkey," and "Anteater." The issues persisted for much of the day, culminating in Bungie taking the servers offline for several hours. Service was eventually restored late in the evening.

In response to the disruption, Bungie announced it would compensate players who logged in during the affected period with seven free "Sponsored Kits," which are pre-packaged loadouts containing high-tier gear. This goodwill gesture, however, sparked debate within the community. Season 2 introduced a full progression reset, wiping all player gear to create a level playing field. Some players expressed concern that distributing...