Ahead of its open beta server slam, Bungie recently revealed Marathons network and security systems designed to protect players, as well as its cheating policy. This information inspires confidence far to Marathon will take cheating seriously and have plans in place to prevent it from happening in the first place. While everyone Marathons security measures sound good on paper, seeing them implemented in-game will be something else entirely, and it will likely be a case of seeing is believing before players can exhale.
Online multiplayer games have always been ripe for cheaters, and for the most part, developers do a good job of limiting cheating with secure servers and harsh penalties for players caught cheating. But for extraction shooters that Marathon and ARC Raiderscheating can be particularly devastating, as losing to a cheater means losing all your hard-earned loot due to unfair game manipulation. ARC Raiders players may already be familiar with how cheaters can affect the game, as it remains an ongoing problem within the community.
February 26th will be a good day for Bungie's Marathon
Marathon's server slam on February 26 could determine whether Bungie's extraction shooter gains momentum or collapses amid mounting skepticism.
Cheating remains one of ARC Raider's biggest problems
Despite ARC Raiders' Try to crack down on cheaters and hackers, it feels like there's a new way to exploit the game that pops up every day. Between the item duplication bug that allowed players to basically spam an infinite number of grenades and the new ARC Raiders exploit that allows hackers to create Raider Hatches wherever they want, it can be difficult to avoid running into cheaters in the game. The popularity of ARC Raiders has likely contributed to the increase in cheaters in the months since launch, and Embark Studios has had its hands full keeping up.
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The recent controversy surrounding ARC Raiders' Bypassing item duplication, cheaters using third-party hacks such as wall hacks and auto-targets were able to avoid permanent bans with ARC Raiders' Steam Family Sharing compatibility until recently, when ARC Raiders disabled this compatibility to prevent cheaters from jumping to a shared account when one is banned. This effort to reduce instances of cheating has been part of Embark Studios' larger initiative to improve ARC Raiders' security in the months since launch. However, it still feels like the game has a long way to go until it's truly cheater free.
Marathon cracks down on cheaters from the start
In contrast to ARC Raiders, Marathon appears to be preemptively protecting players from cheaters in preparation for the server slam scheduled to run from February 26th to March 2nd. Marathon have had the luxury of seeing how ARC Raiders has addressed its cheating problem after delaying the game's release from September 2025 to March 5, 2026. Taking steps to prevent cheating at launch should theoretically help Marathon maintain a healthy player base in the crucial first few months of its life, potentially giving it an edge over its extraction shooter competition that ARC Raiders.
How Marathon handles cheaters
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Dedicated servers that are completely authoritative for important combat and looting actions
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Network systems that track movements and actions
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Fog of War to limit knowledge of the player's client map and prevent “wall hacks”, “ESP cheats” and “loot revealers”
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Rebuilt security stack along with an extra layer of security from BattlEye
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Anyone found cheating will be banned from playing Marathon forever, no second chances
At a glance, it's clear that Bungie is cracking down on cheating Marathon very seriously, going so far as to rebuild the company's entire security stack to ensure it maintains the highest level of protection. Other tricks, such as Fog of War to prevent “wall hack” cheats from being effective, and server-side tracking of players' movements and actions to limit client-side manipulation, are also comforting to players worried about losing their loot in Marathon to hackers and cheaters. The strict penalty of being permanently banned from Marathon no other chances will hopefully be the last nail in the coffin that prevents potential cheaters from wasting their time with hacks, but it all depends on how effectively these security measures are combined in-game.
Bungie reveals if Marathon will adopt ARC Raider's aggression-based matchmaking
Marathon developer Bungie reveals whether its new extraction shooter will adopt an ARC Raiders-style matchmaking system based on aggression.
Why Marathon's strict anti-cheat policy may be a pipe dream
If Bungie manages to pull off these security measures for Marathon and successfully keeps cheating to a minimum Marathon has the potential to be the best extraction game for fans who are tired of exploits littering ARC Raiders. But just because Bungie has outlined its strategy to combat cheaters doesn't mean the problem won't exist in some form when Marathon is launched.
In the blog post announcing these security measures and anti-cheat policy, Bungie notes that “product security is never fully resolved and we will continue to invest in our game security systems,” indicating that there is still potential for cheaters to breach security. Players who are willing to go through the lengths to cheat in an online multiplayer game will look for any errors and bugs in Marathon to enable exploitation, so there may be some uncleaned holes in Marathons security measures that can make the game vulnerable to hackers.
On the other hand, Bungie's strict no-second-chance policy for players caught cheating could end up backfiring without proper oversight. For as many legitimate cheaters as there are often in games, there are the innocent players who end up getting banned by mistake, and it's unclear what Bungie's policy would be for Marathon player in this situation. Another possible situation may arise, like that ARC Raiders was recently addressed, where the item duplication bug became so widespread that Embark Studios had to investigate and penalize players deemed to have overused the exploit. This captured ARC Raiders between a rock and a hard place with how to deal with major content creators who participated in the exploit, which could spell trouble for the likes Marathon players under Bungie's one-and-done policy.
- Released
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March 5, 2026
- ESRB
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Teen/animated blood, language, violence, in-game purchases, user interaction
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
