Bungie admits to using plagiarized art in Marathon and delays post-launch content to address the issue. The controversy has cast a shadow over the game’s development and future.
Despite a major controversy breaking just a day earlier, Bungie pressed on with their planned Marathon livestream AMA. But the tone was far from celebratory. The stream confirmed that some post-launch content for the game will be delayed after the studio admitted to plagiarizing several pieces of art from the independent collective Antireal.
The issue began when a digital artist, Fern, recognized assets from Marathon’s alpha that looked suspiciously like work she had created back in 2017. After digging deeper, she realized several pieces had been lifted directly from her old posters and used in the game without credit or permission.
Bungie responded quickly, owning up to the plagiarism and promising to “make things right” with Antireal, though they haven’t disclosed what that actually means in terms of compensation or licensing.
During the PlayMA livestream, Art Director Joe Cross addressed the controversy head-on:
“It came to our attention that an artist who worked on Marathon in the early stages of pre-production took a number of graphic elements from a graphic designer without permission or acknowledgement that was then checked in in 2020,” he said.
“We are working on and are 100% committed to our review process to ensure instances like this don’t happen again, on Marathon or at Bungie.”
Cross also noted they’re now auditing all work from the involved artist and delaying early looks at the game. The PlayMA stream, originally planned to feature gameplay, was noticeably light on visuals—presumably because much of the content included the now-pulled assets.
While Marathon‘s core release date remains unchanged, this scandal means the post-launch pipeline is getting slowed down significantly. With Destiny 2 content winding down, Bungie has little wiggle room to delay the main launch any further, but the cost is now time and resources spent scrubbing and replacing critical art assets.
Fern, the artist whose work was stolen, spoke out in an interview with The Washington Post, revealing the emotional toll the situation has taken:
“It was kind of vindicating to see direct plagiarism because it meant I wasn’t crazy for feeling so uncomfortable with the overall direction,” she said. “I kept quiet about it because I was advised to seek legal action, but… I don’t have enough time or money to fly out to the U.S. to pursue an unwinnable court case against Sony.”
As of now, it’s unclear whether these changes will affect the planned Open Beta ahead of the game’s September launch, but it’s evident that the scandal has already cast a long shadow over the game’s development and Bungie’s reputation.
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