Bungie accused of plagiarizing art (yet again), but blames all the alleged Marathon art theft on a former employee

Bungie has been accused yet again of plagiarizing art, this time for its upcoming extraction shooter Marathon. The artist making these claims – 4nt1r34l – posted comparisons between their own futuristic works with assets found within the Marathon Alpha and official art released by the studio, highlighting simularities.

This all kicked up late last evening, as 4nt1r34l took to social media to present the world with a collection of side-by-side comparisons between original art they’ve made over the the years to both screenshots from the game and official Marathon material (from the website and press kits). These include examples where the text “ALEPH Dark Space Hauling Logistics”, featured prominantly on a piece of her prior work, can be found in part or in its entirety on assets in the recent alpha.

Following this post, 4nt1r34l elaborated to say that franchise art director for Marathon Joseph Cross had followed them for years, but that there had been no communication between them and Cross (or Bungie at all). In response to this, the official Marathon Dev Team social media account put out a lengthy statement confirming “a former Bungie artist” did in fact use 4nt1r34l’s art in a texture sheet used in-game.

“We immediately investigated a concern regarding unauthorized use of artist decals in Marathon and confirmed that a former Bungie artist included these in a texture sheet that was ultimately used in-game,” the statement reads, “This issue was unknown by our existing art team, and we are still reviewing how this oversight occurred. We take matters like this very seriously. We have reached out to @4nt1r34l to discuss this issue and are committed to do right by the artist.”

It continues, “As a matter of policy, we do not use the work of artists without their permission. To prevent similar issues in the future, we are conducting a thorough review of our in-game assets, specifically those done by the former Bungie artist, and implementing stricter checks to document all artist contributions. We value the creativity and dedication of all artists who contribute to our games, and we are committed to doing right by them. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.”

This is the third time in three years that Bungie has allgedly been caught with its pants down in regard to the unathorized use of external art. Back in 2023, an artist compared their own fan art to art used in a Destiny 2 Lightfall cutscene. Later, in 2024, Bungie was caught using work an artist’s commission work for an in-game armanent for the exotic gun Ace of Spades. Both times, the studio apologised, and paid the artists. But you’ve got to wonder at this point, how does this seemingly happen three times in three years? What, if any, guardrails does Bungie have to prevent this if it’s happening this often, across different teams?

While Bungie has owned up to the mistake, there’s no word on whether or not 4nt1r34l will get the credit (or dare I say, payment) they deserve, especially given how far reaching the – let’s call it artistic inspiration – goes with Marathon.

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