TheRetroArcade
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Joined: Feb 2026
Joined: Feb 2026
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When it comes to matchmaking, Marathon covers the basics: You can go solo and play against only other solos, or fill in a group of three to face other squads. But the community has been vocal about the desire for a duos mode since the sever slam in February, and now Bungie's ready to give it a shot.
An "experimental" duos queue will go live in Marathon on Wednesday, March 18. It'll run on one map (Perimeter) for around two weeks, but Bungie might yank it out early or keep it around based on player feedback.
"Just a note: this is a bit of an experimental feature so we expect to learn some things along the way and make changes to future versions of this," wrote Marathon game director Joe Ziegler on X.
The duos-only Perimeter will appear as its own map option on the deployment screen, which Ziegler notes does not represent how it'll be presented in its final version.
"This likely won't be the final implementation of how it would look and flow in the game, but for now it was [the] easiest way for us to get it to you all to help us test. We're excited to run this experiment with you all. Pending what we learn, we're hoping to expand duos as a queue in the future and we wanted to take this first step sooner than later so we could understand how it affects our game better before investing a lot more time in fleshing out the feature."
Alright everyone we're going a bit rogue here. We have a bit of an experimental feature that's in development we want to test and we'd love for you to help. As of Wednesday morning 3/18 at 10am PT, we'll be enabling a limited time duos queue on Perimeter only to test how the game…March 16, 2026
As a player, duos mode sounds like a "nice to have" option for times when I have exactly one friend to play Marathon with, but I understand why Bungie is approaching it like a significant undertaking: changing the makeup of squads changes how maps flow and how players behave on them. We don't know exactly how loot is affected by player count, but I wonder if duos might also change the density of supplies in compounds.
Matchmaking times are another consideration: Marathon already splits its matchmaking into six pools (soon to be eight with Cryo Archive) by letting solos/squads specify which of the three maps they play on. Duos would introduce yet another set of queues, and the effect that's likely to have on...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
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Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
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Every Friday
GamesRadar+
Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Every Thursday
GTA 6 O'clock
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
Every Friday
Knowledge
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Every Thursday
The Setup
Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.
Every Wednesday
Switch 2 Spotlight
Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.
Every Saturday
The Watchlist
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.
Once a month
SFX
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
When it comes to matchmaking, Marathon covers the basics: You can go solo and play against only other solos, or fill in a group of three to face other squads. But the community has been vocal about the desire for a duos mode since the sever slam in February, and now Bungie's ready to give it a shot.
An "experimental" duos queue will go live in Marathon on Wednesday, March 18. It'll run on one map (Perimeter) for around two weeks, but Bungie might yank it out early or keep it around based on player feedback.
"Just a note: this is a bit of an experimental feature so we expect to learn some things along the way and make changes to future versions of this," wrote Marathon game director Joe Ziegler on X.
The duos-only Perimeter will appear as its own map option on the deployment screen, which Ziegler notes does not represent how it'll be presented in its final version.
"This likely won't be the final implementation of how it would look and flow in the game, but for now it was [the] easiest way for us to get it to you all to help us test. We're excited to run this experiment with you all. Pending what we learn, we're hoping to expand duos as a queue in the future and we wanted to take this first step sooner than later so we could understand how it affects our game better before investing a lot more time in fleshing out the feature."
Alright everyone we're going a bit rogue here. We have a bit of an experimental feature that's in development we want to test and we'd love for you to help. As of Wednesday morning 3/18 at 10am PT, we'll be enabling a limited time duos queue on Perimeter only to test how the game…March 16, 2026
As a player, duos mode sounds like a "nice to have" option for times when I have exactly one friend to play Marathon with, but I understand why Bungie is approaching it like a significant undertaking: changing the makeup of squads changes how maps flow and how players behave on them. We don't know exactly how loot is affected by player count, but I wonder if duos might also change the density of supplies in compounds.
Matchmaking times are another consideration: Marathon already splits its matchmaking into six pools (soon to be eight with Cryo Archive) by letting solos/squads specify which of the three maps they play on. Duos would introduce yet another set of queues, and the effect that's likely to have on...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?