Bungie Conducting 'Thorough Review' of Marathon After Artist Accuses Studio of Plagiarism

Marathon, the multiplayer extraction shooter from Bungie, is embroiled in a plagiarism controversy after an independent Scottish artist said the game used assets from her work without her permission. Destiny 2 maker Bungie, which has been accused of plagiarism several times before, acknowledged the incident on Friday and claimed a former staff member was responsible for the artist's work appearing in the game's alpha build uncredited. The studio said it was conducting a “thorough review” of its in-game assets and had reached out to the artist.

Marathon in Plagiarism Storm

Fern Hook, an independent artist who goes by @4nt1r34l (AntiReal) on X, accused Bungie last week of lifting assets from her poster designs for Marathon, which recently concluded its closed alpha. Hook posted side by side comparisons of her artwork and screenshots from Marathon, pointing out uncanny similarities.

“The Marathon alpha released recently and its environments are covered with assets lifted from poster designs I made in 2017,” Hook said.

The artist accused Bungie of not only plagiarising specific assets, but also said the studio's upcoming shooter drew heavily from her “design language”. Marathon has been noted for its striking futuristic sci-fi art style, which seems to resemble Hook's artwork closely.

“Bungie is of course not obligated to hire me when making a game that draws overwhelmingly from the same design language I have refined for the last decade, but clearly my work was good enough to pillage for ideas and plaster all over their game without pay or attribution,” Hook added in a post thread on X.

Bungie Addresses Plagiarism Accusation

On Friday, Bungie addressed the plagiarism accusations and said its art team was unaware of the issue as the assets in question were used by a former staffer.

“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 studio said.

“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.

“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.”

Marathon has been noted for its striking art style
Photo Credit: Bungie

Morale at Bungie Reportedly in 'Free Fall' 

Bungie also pulled all planned gameplay from its most recent Marathon livestream on Friday in light of the plagiarism accusations. On the stream, the game's art director Joe Cross said a Bungie artist, who worked on Marathon during its early stages of pre-production, borrowed a number of graphic elements from Hook's work without her permission or due credit.

Cross said the studio was auditing all previous work on the game and would remove any assets that were inappropriately sourced.

Following the plagiarism controversy, the morale at Bungie is reportedly in “free fall”. According to a Forbes report published Friday, the studio was in “chaos” with its future uncertain in the event of Marathon having an underwhelming launch. The shooter's early impressions and alpha reception has been firmly mixed.

“Everyone has the same concerns about what happens to Bungie as a studio if Marathon bombs, which is something they absolutely cannot afford,” the report said, citing current and former Bungie employees.

Marathon is set for launch on September 23 across PC, PS5 and Xbox Series S/X.