Marathon Ranked Play arrives March 21 with weekend zone rotations
Bungie said Season One Ranked is still in development, uses a Holotag score system across six ranks, and requires Runner Level 25 to join.
Bungie will open Ranked Play for Marathon on Saturday, March 21, 2026, the developer said in a post on X. The studio noted the mode is still under development for its first season and asked players for detailed feedback as it continues to refine Ranked systems.
The Ranked mode centers on a special item called the Holotag. Players hit score targets tied to the Holotag to earn Ranked Points and move through six ranks, which run from Bronze up to Pinnacle. Each rank is split into three tiers. At the end of each season, players receive rewards based on their highest achieved rank, and some items will be exclusive to Ranked play.
For Season One, Bungie listed gun styles and titles among the Ranked rewards. Entry into Ranked requires Runner Level 25. Matches run only on weekends, with zone rotations: Perimeter, Dire Marsh, and Outpost. The first Ranked weekend will take place in Perimeter, and matchmaking will respect crew sizes so players can queue as teams or go solo.
Alongside the Ranked announcement, Marathon’s recent Server Slam playtest drew large crowds during pre-release testing; coverage reported peak concurrent PC players of 143,621 during the Server Slam’s opening day, a useful backdrop for how much attention Bungie’s new extraction shooter has attracted so far. Read that coverage at Marathon Server Slam concurrency.
If you want to see Bungie’s social post, the announcement is available below:
— Marathon (@MarathonTheGame) March 18, 2026
Share what you find useful or frustrating about Ranked Play as it rolls out; developer feedback is an active part of Season One’s plan. Tell us what you think in the comments, and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram.
Marathon
Developed by Bungie
A PvP-focused extraction shooter set on the mysterious planet of Tau Ceti IV, Marathon will see players inhabit the bodies of Runners, cybernetic mercenaries who have been designed to survive the planet’s harsh environments and explore the lost colony that once inhabited Tau Ceti’s surface. Players will engage solo or in crews of three, searching for mysterious alien artifacts, as well as for valuable loot and new weapons and gear that they can add to their collection.
- Genre: Shooter
- Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5
- Modes: Multiplayer, Battle Royale
- Publisher: Bungie
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Age Rating:
GRAC 15+
