Marathon PC Specs and Steam Deck Verdict: Can Your PC Run It?

Marathon’s PC requirements are modest: an i5-6600 or Ryzen 5 2600 with 8 GB of RAM and a GTX 1050 Ti at minimum. It does not run on the Steam Deck at all. Bungie’s Steam store page lists a minimum of an Intel Core i5-6600 or AMD Ryzen 5 2600 with 8 GB of RAM and a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, Radeon RX 5500 XT or Intel Arc A580. The recommended tier moves up to an i5-10400 or Ryzen 5 3500, 16 GB of RAM and an RTX 2060, RX 5700 XT or Arc A770. Valve’s compatibility report rates Marathon Unsupported on the Steam Deck, on SteamOS and on the Steam Machine. The reason sits in plain sight on the store page: “Uses Kernel Level Anti-Cheat BattlEye”, plus a third-party EULA and manual removal after you uninstall.

• PC minimum: i5-6600 or Ryzen 5 2600, 8 GB RAM, GTX 1050 Ti (4 GB) / RX 5500 XT (4 GB) / Arc A580 (8 GB), DirectX 12, broadband.
• PC recommended: i5-10400 or Ryzen 5 3500, 16 GB RAM, RTX 2060 (6 GB) / RX 5700 XT (8 GB) / Arc A770 (16 GB).
• Steam Deck: Unsupported by Valve, and the same verdict applies to SteamOS and the Steam Machine.
• ProtonDB: an overall “Borked” tier across 84 reports, with Platinum as the best tier any single report has given.
• Price: $39.99 on Steam, with no discount listed on November 13, 2026. The game launched on March 5, 2026 and the PC build is Windows only.
• Next content drop: Symbiosis on December 8, with an Open Play Week that lets anyone play for free from December 8 to December 15.

What Marathon asks for on PC

The Steam store page is the only place Bungie publishes the PC spec sheet, and it carries one minimum tier and one recommended tier:

Steam publishes no storage number in that table, which we come back to below. Two other details matter more than the rest. Both Intel Arc cards are listed as ‘with ReBAR on’, and ReBAR is a motherboard setting called Resizable BAR. The Arc A580 carries 8 GB of memory while the Arc A770 in the recommended tier carries 16 GB. And there is no storage number anywhere on the page, which is worth a section of its own below.

Why the Steam Deck says no

Valve’s report for Marathon is itemized, and it lists a single failing item: an unsupported anti-cheat configuration. The same report gives the same verdict for SteamOS and for the Steam Machine, so there is no Linux or handheld route into the game at all.

The store page explains what triggers it. Marathon “Uses Kernel Level Anti-Cheat BattlEye”, asks you to agree to a third-party EULA, and notes that the anti-cheat has to be removed by hand after the game is uninstalled. BattlEye is the kernel-level anti-cheat service that runs inside a game and blocks cheating software at the operating-system level. Activision’s RICOCHET anti-cheat is the same sort of kernel-level system, as our Modern Warfare 4 PC specs page explains, and that page also notes that Valve has published no Steam Deck rating for Call of Duty. Marathon is the sharper case: Valve has published a verdict, and the verdict is no.

What ProtonDB players report

ProtonDB is the player-report database where people submit how a Linux or SteamOS game runs for them, and its Marathon summary shows an odd-looking pair of numbers. The overall tier is “Borked”, the lowest tier on the site, across 84 reports with a confidence rating of “strong”. The best tier any individual report has given is Platinum, and the trending tier is Borked as well.

Read together, those numbers point at a launch problem and not a performance problem, and they agree with Valve’s one-line verdict. If players were filing reports about frame rates, the best reported tier would not be sitting at Platinum while the aggregate sits at the bottom of the table.

How much disk space does Marathon need?

Bungie has not published a download size, and the store page has no disk requirement line in either tier. What it does say is that hard drive storage requirements are subject to increase, and that set-up, features and updates can need more room, including the mandatory in-game updates you need to keep playing. Plan for a number that moves, because updates such as the December 8 patch can raise the installation size.

That makes the December 8 patch the moment to check. If your drive is tight, the safest order is to try the free Open Play Week first, then read the store page again once Symbiosis has landed and the patch size is known.

What is arriving on December 8

Symbiosis is the next update, and PlayStation’s post on it lists what changes. The Perimeter zone gains the underground Burrows, the submerged Reservoir and a new Tick Queen. Expedition arrives as phase one of a PvE-only mode built around a three-run series that you play solo or with a crew. There is also an experimental 3v3 Deathmatch beta, a new social space called Limbo, the Bishop Runner shell, a V17 Flamethrower and a Maverick revolver.

For a new player the free week is the headline. Bungie’s own announcement says Open Play Week runs from December 8 until December 15. Everyone can reach the new Expedition mode, the Bishop shell, the updated Perimeter map and the new gear and rewards. Anything you unlock in that window stays yours if you buy the game afterwards. We covered the update in more detail in our Marathon Symbiosis story, and the current build on Steam is update 1.1.9.7, whose patch notes cover the economy changes and the running events.

Is Marathon cross-platform?

Yes. PlayStation’s post says Marathon “is available now on PS5, with full cross-play and cross-save support”, and cross-save needs a copy of the game for each system you play on, plus your system account linked to your Bungie.net account. Steam tags the PC build for Cross-Platform Multiplayer as well. The Marathon game page keeps the store links and our other coverage in one place.

Should you buy Marathon now?

• You have a desktop with a GTX 1050 Ti or better and 8 GB of RAM: $39.99 buys the full game, and the spec sheet is not going to stop you.
• You have 16 GB of RAM and a card from the recommended tier: you can run everything the December update adds, including the new PvE mode.
• You are on a Steam Deck or another handheld PC: there is no supported way in. Valve’s verdict covers the Deck, SteamOS and the Steam Machine.
• You are curious but undecided: consider the free Open Play Week from December 8 to December 15. You keep everything you unlock.

We compared three lists on November 13, 2026: Steam’s system requirements, Valve’s compatibility report and ProtonDB’s player reports. Marathon is a case where the spec sheet and the compatibility verdict point in opposite directions. The hardware bar is low enough that the minimum tier lists a GTX 1050 Ti and 8 GB of RAM, while the software bar is high enough that 84 player reports average out at the bottom tier on ProtonDB. The useful lesson for anyone reading a spec sheet before buying is that these are two separate questions. “Can my PC run it?” and “Where can I run it?” can say completely different things, and for Marathon the second one decides where you play. The free week in December is the cheapest way to answer that for yourself before spending $39.99.

Edited by Kerwin Stewart, Editor-in-Chief · How we report