Marathon Game Server Slam Goes Live: Start Times, Rewards and What’s Not Included
The Marathon Game Server Slam opened as a global preview and technical stress test that runs from February 26 at 10: 00 a. m. PT until March 2 at 10: 00 a. m. PT, offering players on Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S a free look at the extraction shooter ahead of its March 5 launch. The weekend matters because Bungie is turning everything on worldwide to stress its systems and gather the breakage data it needs to refine the full release.
Marathon Game Server Slam Start Times and Platforms
The Server Slam begins February 26 at 10: 00 a. m. PT (1: 00 p. m. ET) and ends March 2 at 10: 00 a. m. PT (1: 00 p. m. ET). Play is available on Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S with cross-play and cross-save enabled, and the event is also part of Steam Next Fest. The playtest is free for the weekend and represents a final beta run before the game’s launch on March 5.
Server Slam as a Technical Stress Test
Bungie is deliberately bringing online its global infrastructure and inviting mass participation to observe system behavior under load: players will log in, crew up, infil, exfil and log out while teams stand by to monitor performance and make adjustments. Because the company is expecting instability, it is using every outage and bug as actionable data to improve systems and gameplay quality before launch day.
Joe Ziegler’s 11 Tips for New Runners
Marathon’s game director, Joe Ziegler, shared 11 tips for beginners ahead of the Server Slam; those tips have been edited for clarity. The guidance is intended to help newcomers get a faster foothold in the game during this concentrated preview window and to smooth the learning curve as players experiment with extraction mechanics on Tau Ceti IV.
Tau Ceti IV, Maps and In-Game Context
Marathon is set on Tau Ceti IV, a derelict space colony where Runners and hostile UESC security forces roam. The in-game year is 2893, 99 years after the events of the original Marathon and hundreds of years after the colony’s establishment. Maps in the Server Slam are a slice of the full offering: futuristic research facilities, lush forests and hostile encounters across planet surfaces, with progression toward the Cryo Archive—the first floor of the UESC Marathon orbiting above—available in later content.
Rewards: Emblems, Backgrounds and Arrival Caches
Everyone who completes the introductory mission during the Server Slam will unlock a Beta. exe emblem and a Complex Study player background, cosmetics exclusive to weekend participants. Time spent during the Slam also banks loot for launch: completing the first mission unlocks the Standard Arrival Cache; reaching Runner Level 10 unlocks the Enhanced Arrival Cache (Green); and reaching Runner Level 30 unlocks the Deluxe Arrival Cache (Blue). Cosmetic rewards tied to watching streams are available during the weekend for viewers tuning to Twitch streams; full claim instructions will appear on support pages. All cosmetic and loot rewards will be delivered after Marathon launches on March 5, and the rollout may take additional time to reach all players.
What’s Missing from the Server Slam and the Road to Season 1
The Server Slam is explicitly a preview, not the full game, and will omit some maps and features. The final product at launch will include additional zones, factions, contracts, gear and deeper progression, with Ranked mode and other content arriving when Season 1 kicks off. Specific roster changes at launch include the sixth Runner Shell, Thief, which will be available at launch but is not included in the Server Slam; the Cryo Archive map will arrive during Season 1 rather than in the weekend preview.
What makes this notable is the dual purpose of the weekend: it is both a hands-on demo for players and a live, large-scale systems exercise for developers, giving Bungie concrete metrics to act on before the March 5 release. For players, the Server Slam is an opportunity to earn exclusive cosmetics, test cross-play and cross-save across platforms, and bank arrival caches tied to measurable in-session milestones that will unlock at launch.
