Bungie’s multiplayer escape shooter Marathon has been embroiled in plagiarism controversy after a Scottish independent artist claimed the game used assets from her work without her permission. Destiny 2 maker Bungie, which has been accused of plagiarism multiple times before, acknowledged the incident on Friday and claimed that a former staff member was responsible for the artist’s work appearing in the game’s alpha version without attribution. The studio said it is conducting a “thorough review” of its in-game assets and has contacted the artist.
Marathon in the Plagiarism Storm
Fern Hook, an independent artist known on X as @4nt1r34l (AntiReal), last week accused Bungie of stealing from a poster she designed for Marathon, a project that recently ended closed beta. Hook compared her artwork and marathon screenshots side by side, noting the striking similarities.
“Marathon alpha was recently released and its environment overlays assets drawn from a poster design I made in 2017,” says Hook.
The artist accused Bungie of not only plagiarizing specific assets, but also said the studio’s upcoming shooter borrows heavily from her “design language.” Marathon is known for its striking futuristic sci-fi art style, which seems very similar to Hook’s artwork.
“Bungie certainly has no obligation to hire me when making a game that overwhelmingly adopts the same design language I’ve refined over the past decade, but I’m obviously good enough at my job to plunder ideas and smear them across their games without payment or credit,” Hook added in X’s post.
Bungie responds to plagiarism accusations
On Friday, Bungie responded to the plagiarism accusations and said its art team was unaware of the issue because the assets in question were already used by a former employee.
“We immediately investigated the issue regarding the unauthorized use of artist decals in Marathon and confirmed that a former Bungie artist included these decals in the texture sheets that were ultimately used in the game,” the studio said.
“Our existing art team was not aware of this issue and we are still reviewing how this oversight occurred. We take matters like this very seriously. We have reached out to @4nt1r34l to discuss the issue and are committed to getting the artist to take the right approach.
“As a matter of policy, we do not use the artist’s work without their permission.
“To prevent similar issues in the future, we are conducting a thorough review of our in-game assets, particularly those made by former Bungie artists, and implementing stricter checks to document the contributions of all artists.
“We value the creativity and dedication of all artists who contribute to our games, and we’re committed to doing right by them. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.”
Marathon is known for its eye-catching art style
Photo credit: Bungie
Bungie’s morale reportedly in ‘free fall’
Bungie also pulled all planned gameplay from its recent marathon livestream on Friday in light of the plagiarism accusations. During the livestream, the game’s art director Joe Cross said that a Bungie artist who worked on Marathon during its pre-production stage borrowed many graphical elements from Hook’s work without her permission or due credit.
Cross said the studio is reviewing all previous work on the game and will remove any inappropriately sourced assets.
Morale at Bungie is reportedly in “free fall” following the plagiarism controversy. According to a report published by Forbes on Friday, the studio is in “chaos” and its future will be uncertain if Marathon’s launch is underwhelming. Early impressions of the Shooter and acceptance of the Alpha have been mixed.
“Everyone is equally worried about what will happen to Bungie as a studio if Marathon blows up, and that’s something they absolutely can’t afford,” the report quoted current and former Bungie employees as saying.
Marathon will launch on September 23rd on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S/X.