Key facts
- Cheapest right now
- € Standard · Steam Account · Global · Difmark
- Live offers
- 59 offers · 23 stores
- Our pick
- Standard · Steam Key · Global · Gameboost — €
Want to see more from Gocdkeys on Google?
You need to be signed in to your Google account.
Anyone waiting for season three before trying Marathon will have to hold on a while longer. In a development update posted on 14 September, titled Nightfall Refresh and Symbiosis, Bungie confirmed that Symbiosis, the big update that was due on 22 September, now arrives on 8 December. The studio says it is adjusting its plans so the update meets what players are expecting.
There is a second date to note, and for newcomers it may matter more. A smaller update lands on 6 October and resets player progression.
Symbiosis moves from 22 September to 8 December
Symbiosis had been billed as season three. Along with the delay, Bungie is dropping the fixed season calendar altogether: big updates will no longer be tied to a set season date, giving the team room to test and polish before anything ships.
What arrives with Symbiosis
There's a reworked Perimeter zone, a new social space with a firing range, a new Runner shell (Runners are the playable characters, and shells are their bodies), an experimental Team Deathmatch mode for PvP and the first batch of improvements aimed at new players.
The headline, though, is Marathon's first permanent PvE experience. If fighting other squads is what has kept you away, nothing permanent changes for you until December.
Nightfall Refresh resets progression on 6 October
Nightfall Refresh is the smaller update that fills the gap. Bungie says it resets player progression and the in-game economy, and it also brings a new rewards pass along with balance and quality-of-life changes. We don't yet know exactly what carries over after the reset, cosmetics included, so don't assume anything survives until Bungie spells it out.
Start now or on 6 October?
A quick reminder: Marathon is Bungie's extraction shooter. Squads compete against each other and against AI-controlled enemies, grab whatever loot they can and try to get out alive. It launched on 5 March on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and it isn't free-to-play. Steam players rate it Very Positive (36,343 positive reviews, 8,525 negative), and on OpenCritic it averages 81 from 125 critic reviews, with 72% recommending it.
Buy this week and you get three weeks to learn the maps and how extraction works before the reset. For a newcomer that's handy. If you'd rather every hour go towards progress you keep, 6 October is the cleaner place to start.
What Marathon costs on PC this morning
The news hasn't moved prices. We checked on the morning of 15 September (06:00 UTC), and prices change daily. Steam is asking €39.99, no fees, and has been since 6 August.
The cheapest Steam Key is at Gameboost: €17.37 with the coupon GCDK13 (€18.16 with fees), standard edition, global. Behind it are Driffle at €18.17 with the coupon GOCDKEYS10 (€19.23 with fees) and CDKeys.com at €19.49, no fees. K4G looks cheaper at first glance, €17.61 with the coupon GCDK14DEAL, but comes to €19.51 with fees, and Gamivo is €18.09 with the coupon GCDKGamivo (€19.71 with fees). All of them are global Steam Keys, and there are 56 offers live for the PC version.
Gamivo also has a Steam shared account for €15.47 with the coupon GCDKGamivo (€17.00 with fees). With a shared account you log into someone else's Steam account, so the game isn't yours and access can be taken away. For a game you plan to keep playing, the key is worth the extra €1.16.
The Deluxe Edition as a Steam Key costs €21.68 at Eneba with the coupon Gocdkeys10 (€24.09 with fees) or €22.79 at Gamivo with the coupon GCDKGamivo (€24.58 with fees). In the official stores, GamesPlanet has it at €46.95, no fees.
Has it been any cheaper?
On Steam, yes, back in the summer sale: our records show €27.99 there from 15 June to 5 August. Reseller Steam Keys have hovered around €19-22 since April, with monthly lows of €22.02 in April, €19.65 in June, €19.49 in August and €19.00 so far in September. These historical figures leave out fees and coupons. We have no sign of a sale on the way, so we wouldn't count on one.
Xbox Series X|S and PS5 copies
On Xbox, Kinguin has a Europe-region Xbox key at €20.69 with the coupon SEPGOC10 (€22.69 with fees). Eneba shows the same €20.69 with the coupon Gocdkeys10, but at checkout it's €23.02 with fees, also Europe region. Difmark sells a shared account for €13.77 with the coupon Gocdkeys (€14.39 with fees), with the same drawbacks as on PC.
PS5 players pay more. The PlayStation Store charges €39.99, no fees, and the best PSN Key we found is at Kinguin for €30.59 with the coupon SEPGOC10 (€33.37 with fees), Europe region. Difmark's shared PS5 account is €16.79 with the coupon Gocdkeys (€17.55 with fees).
If I were starting on PC, I'd buy Marathon key this week if I wanted practice before the reset, and otherwise in the days before 6 October. If PvE is what you're after, December is your date. To hear about any drop before then, set a price alert.
I have been a gamer for as long as I can remember, and for the last 14 years I have been making life easier for other gamers. CEO and co-founder of Gocdkeys.
LinkedIn profile More about Luis Abrines
+ 120 Tickets by link