Marathon server queue – Login services ‘currently being throttled’ explained

Sometimes we have to wait all day to play our favorite games, and other times, the games themselves make us wait to play them.

As anyone who’s played other Bungie games like Destiny 2 will know, sometimes the game will force you into a queue, leaving you waiting with nothing but time on your hands to play the game. Given that it’s made by the same studio, Marathon has a similar process.

Here’s everything we know about server queues to play Bungie’s exciting extraction shooter, Marathon.

Why is there a queue to play Marathon?

Queues often appear in Marathon (and Bungie’s other game, Destiny 2) whenever there’s a new update deployed and the developer throttles players connecting so as to not overload the servers.

In the case of the launch for Marathon’s closed alpha test on April 23, 2025, Bungie said it would be “implementing a population cap” when the test went live at 12pm CT, but “will slowly raise the cap and allow more players to join” while it runs technical tests.

“We expect to have room for everyone who has access, but if you plan on playing right when the gates open, you may have to wait a bit as we get everyone in,” the developer said on the game’s Discord server.

The message many players were met with at launch said, “due to increased traffic, login services to Marathon are currently being throttled.” It asks players to “please stay on this screen until login services stabilize and you are logged into Marathon.”

If you get stuck in a queue to access Marathon, you can either wait to see if you move ahead in line, or log off and try to connect again, although the latter will have you run the risk of falling further behind in the queue and having to wait longer to connect.

If there are any further issues with Marathon, be sure to follow official social media accounts like @MarathonDevTeam or @BNGServerStatus to keep up with whatever is happening behind the scenes.