Bungie Begins Testing Marathon Duos Lobbies on March 18 in a Limited Perimeter Only Experiment

Bungie is moving quickly once again on player feedback for Marathon, and this time the studio is testing one of the most requested features since launch. Game director Joe Ziegler confirmed that Bungie will begin a limited time duos queue test on Wednesday, March 18, 2026 at 10:00 AM PT, with the experiment expected to run for about 2 weeks, though the duration could be shortened or extended depending on the results. The announcement came directly from Ziegler on X, where he said the team is “going a bit rogue here” to get the feature in front of players sooner rather than later.

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…

— Ziegler (@Ziegler_Dev) March 16, 2026

The initial test will be tightly controlled. Bungie is only enabling duos on the Perimeter map, and players entering that playlist will be matched only against other teams of 2. Just as important, this is not a fill enabled playlist. Players will not be able to queue into duos as a solo and get matched with a random partner. To join the test, users must already have another player in their lobby before entering the duos queue.

Ziegler also made it clear that this will not represent the final form of the feature. He described the mode as experimental and warned that “some things will be a bit jank,” which is exactly the kind of candid messaging players have been seeing from Bungie during Marathon’s early live support phase. The studio appears to be using this limited rollout to gather practical data on how 2 player crews affect pacing, engagements, balance, and the overall flow of a match before investing in a more polished long term implementation.

That approach makes sense from a design standpoint. On paper, adding duos to a game that already supports solo and 3 player crews may sound simple, but in reality it can ripple across weapon balance, encounter pressure, runner shell tuning, extraction tempo, and even how AI threats behave across a match. A controlled test on a single map gives Bungie a cleaner environment to evaluate whether duos improve accessibility and team flexibility without compromising the wider competitive ecosystem. That is especially relevant for Marathon, where squad composition and encounter balance are central to every run.

For Bungie, this move is another sign that the studio is trying to stay highly responsive during a critical post launch period. Duos has been one of the community’s most consistent requests, and getting a test live this quickly shows Bungie is willing to experiment in public instead of waiting for a fully finalized solution behind closed doors. If the trial performs well, the studio has already indicated it hopes to expand duos as a future queue option, and Ziegler also suggested this will likely not be the last live experiment as Marathon continues to evolve.

For players, the biggest takeaway is straightforward: starting Wednesday, March 18, 2026, Marathon duos will be available in an early form, but only if you already have a partner ready to queue with you. It is a small scale rollout, but it could become one of the more important tests Bungie runs as it shapes the game’s long term playlist strategy. For now, if you have been waiting for a cleaner 2 player entry point into Marathon, this is the first real step.

Do you think duos should become a permanent Marathon queue, or should Bungie keep the game focused on solo and 3 player team balance?