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Marathon’s Open Play Week Starts Dec. 8, With Crew Up Running Through Dec. 22

The free week includes the full Symbiosis update, while Crew Up challenges in Expedition require a code and at least one teammate.

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A red-armored Marathon Runner beside a display of Crew Up reward cosmetics, including a weapon charm, stickers, and the Exterminator title.

Marathon will be free to play for everyone from Dec. 8 to Dec. 15, giving players a week to try the Symbiosis update and its new Expedition PvE mode. Bungie’s Open Play Week and Crew Up announcement also confirms that event challenges will remain available through Dec. 22, though players will need to own the game after the free week ends.

Symbiosis is scheduled for Dec. 8, the date Bungie previously gave for Marathon’s first permanent PvE offering in its update roadmap. Open Play Week will include the update’s Expedition mode, the Bishop shell, an updated Perimeter map, and its new gear and rewards. Players who purchase the game after the free period will keep the items and progression they earned, including progress from Extraction matches. Extraction will also be available to try with friends, with loot, XP, and faction upgrades up for grabs.

Crew Up requires a code and a teammate

Crew Up begins Dec. 8 at 12 p.m. PT and ends Dec. 22 at 10 a.m. PT. To join, players must redeem the code DMA-T7Y-XJL once Symbiosis is live. After completing the starting tutorial, they can find the event challenges in the Codex’s Events section. The challenges take place in Expedition and grow more demanding as players progress.

Solo runs won’t count for Crew Up. Each player must form or join a crew with at least one other player who has also redeemed the code. Bungie recommends adding teammates as Bungie friends, though players on the same platform can also make progress if they have each other on that platform’s friends list. Each player earns their own Codex rewards.

Completing consecutive challenges unlocks six cosmetics: the Queen’s Nest emblem, Queen’s Dominion background, Queen’s Maw weapon sticker, Cluster Bunch weapon charm, Arata Vectus Destroyer skin, and Exterminator title.

Which Crew Up reward would you work toward first? Follow along as the event approaches on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, and Telegram.

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.