Marathon playtesters could earn up to $500 next month if they follow Bungie's instructions

Bungie has begun reaching out to players about the next Marathon playtest, and they will actually pay players $500 to participate this time, initially reported by The Game Post. After some troubled development, Marathon is now expected to be released in 2026. This next playtest is expected to start on September 8th, and is invite only. Playtests have been going on behind the scenes for the last few months. Most of the recent ones have had players sign an NDA, which means we haven’t been able to learn much about the state of the game. But if you’re interested in earning $500 to play video games, this could be your chance. Though it’s not as easy as it sounds to participate or get all of the money.

Bungie is offering players $500 to play Marathon every day for one month

The makers of Destiny have had a troubled development process with their upcoming extraction shooter, Marathon. First, it was not received well in public playtests, and then a huge portion of the game’s visual design was revealed to be stolen from another artist. After these problems, Bungie ultimately decided that they were not going to hit the September release date they had initially announced.

But hey, even if it’s not your kind of game, and the feedback so far hasn’t been great, getting paid $500 to play Marathon for a month sounds like a good deal. But it’s not as easy as it sounds. According to the email inviting players to participate, shared by The Game Post, players will need to play Marathon for at least one hour every day from September 8th to October 7th during specific time windows that vary between weekends and weekdays. Any missed days will be deducted from the total payout. Ultimately, there’s nothing to lose by trying, but unless you are confident in your schedule throughout September, you may not get the full $500.

The time windows are 3:00 – 7:00 PM Pacific Time on weekdays, and 2:00 – 8:00 PM on weekends. These are solid windows, giving players at least a few hours after the usual work hours of nine to five. But how confident are you that nothing will come up during those times in the next month? Personally, I am attending a wedding near the end of September, and I don’t think the bride and groom will appreciate me setting up my PC at the reception.

Also, unfortunately, these invites are only going out to players who have participated in a closed playtest before, so if you are suddenly very interested in making Marathon the best game it can be, now is not the time. While the email shared by The Game Post doesn’t specify anything about an NDA, it would be surprising if participants were allowed to share anything publicly. So, unless you are participating, we likely won’t learn much about Marathon over the next month, barring any leaks.

For now, we will have to wait to see how public perception of Marathon develops over the coming months. Can they successfully rebuild their reputation and launch this game? Or has it already been through too much trouble to come back from?

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