Marathon director Joe Ziegler has left Bungie after three and a half years at the studio.

In an update posted to Twitter on Friday, Ziegler announced Friday 17th July was his last day at the studio, and that he was “passing the torch of game director” to Del Chafe III and Julia Nardin, insisting: “both of them have been operating in a strong leadership capacity for the team and are ready to guide Marathon into the next chapter with an even better and brighter future”.

“I’m proud of them and I’m excited to see them helm the future of this crazy little world we’ve created together,” Ziegler wrote.

“As for me, I’ll be heading to something new, somewhere else, and will update you on where and what soon,” he added. “I just want to say a deeply heartfelt thank you to all of you for supporting me and Marathon in our windy mission to bring a dark and terrifying space survival frontier to your screen.

“The mission will continue in new and surprising ways so stay tuned for what this team has in store for you! It’s been a pleasure seeing all the stories you’ve created, all the clever ways you’ve found ways to murder robots and one another. Hopefully as I move onto new things, you’ll join me for those adventures as well. Much love to the Marathon community and to all my friends and colleagues at Bungie. May we cross paths again. Keep it weird, keep it real.”

Before Bungie, Ziegler worked at Riot for 12 years, working up from game designer to senior game director.

The news comes at a challenging time for Bungie, which remains mired in controversy following yet another round of layoffs last month, this time affecting at least 292 studio employees. Those impacted included “most” of Bungie’s Destiny 2 team – after the game’s final update in June – as well as an undisclosed number of Marathon developers and other support staff. Bungie previously laid off 100 employees in 2023 and cut a further 220 jobs – equating to roughly 17 percent of its workforce at the time – the following year.

Earlier this month, ex-Marathon director Christopher Barrett announced a settlement has been reached with Sony and Bungie, after he sued both companies for wrongful dismissal, claiming they had “deliberately destroyed [his] reputation by falsely, and publicly, insinuating…he had engaged in sexual misconduct”.

Barrett’s departure from Bungie was first reported in March 2024, amid word of a leadership shakeup at the studio. However, it was later reported that Barrett was fired following an internal investigation into accusations of inappropriate behaviour filed by “at least eight” female employees. Three months later, Barrett filed a $200m USD wrongful dismissal suit against Bungie and Sony.