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New ‘Marathon’ Info: Bungie Morale, Launch Worries And Changing Plans
- Bungie released a closed alpha for its upcoming sci-fi extraction shooter Marathon in early 2025, which featured artwork allegedly lifted from independent artist ANTIREAL’s 2017 designs.
- ANTIREAL revealed that some of her original poster art was used without permission in a texture sheet within Marathon’s environments, a situation Bungie attributed to a previous employee and responded to by initiating an investigation and reaching out to the artist.
- Bungie recognized the issue, confirmed that a former artist had included unauthorized content in the game, committed to enhancing asset verification processes to avoid future problems, and noted that the existing Marathon development team had not been previously informed of the matter.
- ANTIREAL posted that Bungie’s game draws heavily from her decade-refined design language without credit or compensation, and she does not intend to pursue legal action due to limited resources and prior similar experiences.
- The controversy has lowered morale within Bungie, shifted marketing and playtesting plans, and sparked wider discussions about ethical responsibilities major studios owe independent artists.
55 Articles
55 Articles
'Destiny 2' Developer Morale Is Reportedly In 'Free-Fall' After 'Marathon's Plagiarism Scandal
BungieMarathon isn’t even slated for release until this September, but Bungie’s extraction shooter is already in trouble. A gameplay reveal livestream already had potential players divided, but a much more serious issue has since emerged in the form of plagiarism allegations. Now, following Bungie’s admission that some of Marathon’s art assets were directly lifted from a designer without permission, a report alleges that the studio’s staff and l…
Bungie admits its Marathon alpha included stolen artwork
The bright, glitched-out, typography-forward look of Bungie's upcoming extraction shooter Marathon is one of its defining features. As it turns out, it's also partially plagiarized, according to posts shared on the official Marathon X account. The announcement comes after artist Fern Hook, who goes by @4nt1r34l on X, initially accused Bungie of using in-game textures that looked similar to her original artwork on May 15. "Bungie is of course not…
Bungie admits to lifting art for Marathon without credit
After visual and musical artist Antireal (aka 4nt1r34l) accused Bungie of using her artwork without credit in Marathon’s recently released alpha build, the studio has admitted to wrongdoing. On Thursday, Antireal said on X, “The Marathon alpha released recently and its environments are covered with assets lifted from poster designs I made in 2017.” And she came with receipts, showing triangular V graphics, a series of boxed icons, and a script r…
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