Sci-fi shooter 'Marathon' comes to life in hilarious marketing prank (video)

Bungie's new online sci-fi extraction shooter, "Marathon," is finally out, and the veteran developers celebrated this by having a little fun with some unsuspecting victims.

The developers behind Halo and Destiny partnered up with New York City-based creator Michael Krivicka, who is known for hidden camera stunts and marketing tie-ins. This time around, the team set up a fake technology showroom, showcasing some of the Frames — robot bodies occupied by a human consciousness — from the Marathon reboot.

It all involves pulling off a staged gag inside a New York City sci-fi technology demonstration space, and innocent visitors believing they’ve just accidentally fired an advanced arm cannon to blast a hole in the wall. As the shock and awe subsides, actors portraying Vandal and Recon, two of "Marathon's" cyborg runners, come alive to further freak out the victims.

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Now, I know what you're thinking. These people are idiots; who would fall for this? And a few years ago, I'd have been right there with you, but nowadays we've got Elon Musk showing off his weird army of iRobot wannabees, so it's kinda plausible.

Michael Krivicka is a New York City-based creator is best known for his elaborately designed pranks timed to align with major film, TV and gaming releases like his videos titled "Spider-Man Grabs A Coffee," "Devil Baby," "Aliens in NYC," "Cobra-Kai Karate," "Video Game Weapon," and the hilarious "Doomsday Comet" stunt devised for Netflix's "Don’t Look Up" in 2022.

"Our mission was simple: surprise unsuspecting visitors by making them believe they accidentally trigger a powerful weapon from the future," Krivicka tells Space. "We remotely triggered the animatronic features of Vandal's hand cannon, which was synced with the wall blast effect. That perfect sequence of events made the user think that the featured weapon they were holding somehow fired, blasting a big hole into the wall."

"Some Bungie folks were on set throughout the entire production (2-day shoot), and even Joe Ziegler showed up, which was surreal. They all had a blast watching the whole thing unfold from the control room."

We live in a world of staged pranks and social media fakeouts, but Krivicka made it clear to us that none of the people they surprised were actors.

"We never cast actors who pretend to be unsuspecting participants and then somehow fake react. Other agencies do this. We pride ourselves that our hidden camera stunts always show real people and their real reactions," he explains.

"The only actors in the scene are three background actors. They were there to make the showroom feel active and to react to the blast, but then run out and leave the marks inside. It's a group psychology thing that I've been effectively using since I created the "Telekinetic Coffee Shop Surprise" in 2013."

"Marathon" is now available for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.