Marathon's Symbiosis update lands Dec. 8 with permanent PvE, a fungal Perimeter and the Bishop shell

Marathon’s next major update lands on Dec. 8, and it adds the first permanent mode without other Runners hunting you. Here’s when Symbiosis goes live, what it costs and what it brings.

When does Marathon Symbiosis come out?

Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2026, on Steam, PS5 and Xbox Series X and S. Bungie first set the date in its Sept. 14 development update, and the Oct. 6 roadmap repeated it. The hour and the downtime window aren’t announced, and Bungie posts maintenance times on its server status accounts the day before.

Expected launch time: 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET), our estimate. Marathon launched at that hour on Mar. 5, and most of its event windows since then opened at 10 a.m. PT too.

Is Symbiosis free?

Yes. Symbiosis is a free update for everyone who owns Marathon. Bungie’s pricing announcement promised free gameplay updates with new zones, Runner shells and events, and its seasonal plan stated that new content needs no expansion or DLC. Bungie hasn’t announced a free-to-play switch, so newcomers still buy the game at $39.99.

The Deluxe Upgrade costs $19.99 on Steam. Bungie hasn’t announced a Rewards Pass or store bundles for Symbiosis. On consoles, online play needs PS Plus or an Xbox online multiplayer subscription, while Steam players need no subscription. Our upcoming PS5 games list covers the rest of December.

What’s in the Symbiosis update

Bishop, the new Runner shell, is a melee-heavy robot samurai that wins fights with speed and surprise, and Bungie hasn’t revealed its abilities. The CyAc-sponsored social space is a hangout where crews gather before a run and try weapons and abilities on a built-in firing range. Team Deathmatch arrives as an experimental PvP mode, low-commitment fights for practice with no full run at stake. Onboarding gets the first of several fixes for new players.

The permanent PvE mode and the new Perimeter

Marathon’s first permanent PvE mode lets you roam, try builds and tackle challenges without other Runners hunting you. Bungie hasn’t named it and plans a deeper look before launch, with its next Dev Insight due in early December. It builds on Vault Breaker, the experimental Cryo Archive PvE event that ran in July and August and runs again from Oct. 20 to Nov. 10.

The Perimeter, Marathon’s starter zone, gets a major visual overhaul. Fungal growth takes over the zone, opening fresh paths, new points of interest and peaks to scale, and the roadmap lists Burrows and Reservoir under the zone update. The toughest new fight is the Tick Queen, “our largest combatant yet,” in Bungie’s words, and the Praetorian arrives as another new enemy. If you also play ARC Raiders, our ARC Raiders PvE mode page tracks that game’s PvE test.

What happens before Dec. 8

The Nightfall Refresh, live since Oct. 6, runs until Dec. 7, the day before Symbiosis. It reset progression and the economy, added a free NuCal Reward Pass for every owner and cut UESC damage to Runners in Solo playlists by 20%. Bungie’s calendar marked Nov. 3 as the Mid Refresh.

The Ordnance Heist event returns from Nov. 10 to 23, and Sponsored Survival runs from Nov. 10 to Dec. 7.

What comes after Symbiosis

Bungie calls the March 2027 update meaningfully larger than Symbiosis. It adds an all-new zone, fresh alien enemies, story quests, a rebuilt Cradle with more shell progression, extra shell customization and a reworked start for newcomers, all linked across PvE, PvP and PvEvP modes.

This page is updated as soon as Bungie announces the launch time, the name of the PvE mode and the patch notes.