Bungie has confirmed that gamers will get their chance to play Marathon free before launch.
They said this on Twitter addressing a fan’s question about it:
Yes. We’ll have an open preview weekend before launch, and everyone will be able to try Marathon out!
After a contentious three years since Bungie announced the game, they recently revealed that it would be releasing on March 5.
Throughout its development, the game had been facing poor press, including bad buzz from community members who joined playtesting. Even rumors that the game improved months later faced skepticism.
So Bungie definitely needed to open up the game to the fans, so they can see for themselves how good the game is and hopefully spread good word of mouth.
This may seem like it’s not enough to generate buzz, but Bungie probably has more preview periods planned. Expect earlier play periods for early access, or possibly for PS Plus subscribers.
Content creators may also get their own chance to preview the game sometime between now and launch. So Bungie fans should just be patient.