Really, Bungie? Again? The bold art style of the new Marathon game has divided fans, but I thought the vibrant, glitchy UI Wipeout-esque look was actually the best thing about the upcoming extraction shooter – although the epic Marathon cinematic was also a highlight.
Now it turns out that the style was apparently not only influenced by the work of a freelance artist, it even contains imagery directly copied from her work with no compensation or consultation. And it's not the first time something like this has happened.
The digital artist Antireal took to X to accuse Bungie of plagiarising her art in Marathon. As evidence, she provided images of poster designs she made back in 2017, elements of which appear to have been directly lifted. "Clearly my work was good enough to pillage for ideas and plaster all over their game without pay or attribution," she wrote.
The evidence is pretty damning. While Bungie might have been able to argue that the game's art style was merely influenced by the artist's work, stills show icons, numbers and even text that appear to have been directly traced from Antireal's posters. This included even the artist's fictional 'ALEPH Dark-space haulage logistics' and her own name and mark.
"I don't have the resources nor the energy to spare to pursue this legally, but I have lost count of the number of times a major company has deemed it easier to pay a designer to imitate or steal my work than to write me an email," the artist wrote.
"In 10 years, I have never made a consistent income from this work and I am tired of designers from huge companies moodboarding and parasitising my designs while I struggle to make a living."
The Marathon development team has admitted "unauthorised use" of the assets, blaming it on an artist who is no longer with the Sony-owned studio.
In a statement on X, it wrote: "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.
"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 added: "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."
So how did stolen art end up in Marathon, an AAA video game? AI? Laziness? Some have noticed that Marathon's art director Joseph Cross follows Antireal on X, suggesting that the team behind the game was aware of Antireal's work and perhaps inspired by it. But to literally copy assets seems foolish for such a high profile game where they were likely to be discovered.
Antireal mentions moodboarding, and this phase of ideation could be to blame. Something I've seen happen in branding and graphic design is the use of an artist's work for inspiration during the ideation phase early in a project. Perhaps it then gets used as placeholder assets. Somewhere down the line, amid poor organisation and tight deadlines, the origin of the assets is forgotten and they end up making their way into the final product.
But whatever the explanation, Bungie should have the controls in place by now to avoid it because this isn't the first case. Last year, it admitted using fan art in the design of a Destiny 2 Nerf gun and promised to compensate and credit the artist. In 2023, something similar happened with a Destiny 2 cutscene, and in 2021, the developer admitted 'accidental use' of fan art in a trailer for the Witch Queen expansion.
For more game design news, see the the Elder Scrolls parody, the early Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 concept trailer and the Mario Kart AI 'scandal'.
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