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Bungie graciously corrects Marathon's controversial microtransactions

Now you can buy enough premium currency to purchase a skin without being just a few 'pennies' short.
Ben Lyons Senior Editor 9 March 2026

In a rather bizarre set of circumstances, Bungie decided to launch Marathon with microtransactions in place that were a tad unfriendly to consumers. Essentially, you could buy bundles of the so-called Lux currency in as little as chunks of 500 for around $5 or a more cost-efficient $10 bundle that granted 1,100 Lux. Sounds pretty typical, right? Sure, except for the fact that a Runner skin in Marathon costs 1,120 Lux each...

Essentially, anyone who wanted to buy a skin cosmetic with the premium currency would have to snag the $10 bundle and then a $5 bundle as well to ensure they had the extra 20 Lux required to complete the purchase. Now, after a slew of backlash from fans, Bungie has announced an incoming change that will address this, meaning the $10 bundle will reward the exact amount of Lux needed to buy a skin, adding 20 more Lux per $10 bundle.

There will also be a reward-type feature coming in that grants anyone who has purchased one of the $10 bundles an additional 20 Lux, all when this correction is made this week. Likewise, this fix will be coming in-line with a host of other updates to the game in its first patch, which Bungie has given a taster of in an update blog.

For one, we know that distance objective nav points will soon appear at twice the distance of 20m, there will be more Med Cabinets and Munitions Crates on Perimeter, and the starting ammo in MIDA, CyberAcme, and Arachne starting kits is being enhanced. Essentially, welcome changes across the board.

What are your current thoughts on Marathon?

https://x.com/MarathonDevTeam/status/2030099819587588389

Senior Editor Ben was a Senior Editor at Gamereactor UK. When he wasn’t writing, editing or filming for Gamereactor, he could usually be found playing an FPS or getting lost in a sprawling RPG.
Full profile Gamereactor author since October 2020 · 18,577 published articles
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