Bungie faces internal chaos after stolen art surfaces and early feedback on Marathon disappoints. Insiders say morale is at an all-time low, with delays and strategic shifts underway.
Bungie Scrambles After Stolen Art and Rocky Marathon Alpha Feedback
Things aren’t looking great at Bungie right now. According to Forbes journalist Paul Tassi, who’s been covering Destiny and Bungie for years, the studio is in a rough spot following a stolen art controversy and shaky early impressions of Marathon.
The whole thing started when a relatively unknown artist from the collective Antireal discovered that her artwork had shown up in the Alpha version of Marathon. After she shared her findings, Bungie responded—confirming that, yep, her art had been stolen by a former employee.
That news alone would’ve been bad enough, but it’s compounded by the fact that the Marathon Alpha test hasn’t been wowing anyone either. While testers didn’t think the game was bad, the general feeling is that it needs way more work and content to stand out in the crowded live service space.
Now, Bungie’s apparently in panic mode. Tassi reports that the company is seriously reconsidering its whole strategy for the game and has already delayed major reveals. After internal playtests in 2023, Marathon had already been pushed back once, but the recent feedback from the Alpha hasn’t exactly turned the tide.
According to Tassi’s sources, “the vibes have never been worse.” Bungie has launched an internal audit of all its assets, and the legal team is now knee-deep in sorting through the fallout. On top of that, advertising that was supposed to drop in June has been quietly pulled, and the Beta might be delayed too.
Despite all this chaos, there’s reportedly no internal discussion about delaying the full release. Regular employees aren’t even seeing it on the table, which has left a lot of people inside the studio seriously worried about what happens if Marathon doesn’t land well.
To make matters even messier, there were concerns from the very beginning about the direction of the game. Some devs wanted Marathon to include a PvE component and not be just another multiplayer-only shooter. Those ideas were apparently shot down, and now the studio might be paying the price.
So yeah, it’s a stormy time at Bungie—and everyone’s watching closely to see how (or if) they turn this around.
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