What simply occurred? Bungie introduced a reboot of the basic first-person shooter Marathon in 2023. It formally unveiled undertaking footage only a few weeks in the past. The multiplayer extraction shooter has already drawn criticism after somebody noticed points with a few of the paintings utilized by the Sony-owned developer.
Bungie is below hearth for allegedly utilizing stolen artwork property in its extraction shooter Marathon. Impartial artist Antireal caught the Washington-based studio “recycling” a few of her designs, and Bungie is now downplaying the incident by shifting blame to former workers. The controversy has sparked broader conversations within the gaming neighborhood about inventive ethics and the duty of main studios to respect impartial artists’ work.
Antireal just lately referred to as out the studio on X, claiming the Marathon alpha construct contains property lifted from poster designs she created in 2017. She stated somebody at Bungie “drew overwhelmingly” from artwork items she had been refining for over a decade. Bungie presumably discovered her designs compelling sufficient to “encourage” the sport however provided her no credit score or compensation.
the Marathon alpha launched just lately and its environments are lined with property lifted from poster designs i made in 2017.@Bungie @josephacross pic.twitter.com/0Csbo48Jgb
– n² (@4NT1R34L) Might 15, 2025
Antireal stated she would not intend to pursue authorized motion towards Bungie, although this is not the primary time a “main firm” has copied or used her work with out permission.
“In 10 years, I’ve by no means made a constant earnings from this work, and I am uninterested in designers from enormous corporations moodboarding and parasitizing my designs whereas I wrestle to make a residing,” she wrote.
Inside hours of Antireal’s tweets going viral, the Marathon growth group investigated the alleged unauthorized use of her decals. Subsequently, Bungie issued a s assertion claiming a “former” artist included the property in a texture sheet later used within the sport.
Bungie didn’t publicly reveal the previous developer’s id however famous that Marathon’s present group was unaware of the potential copyright violation. The studio says it takes these issues “very significantly” and has already contacted Antireal to resolve the difficulty and supply compensation, which is the appropriate factor to do.
Bungie’s official worker insurance policies forbid utilizing exterior property with out permission. To forestall future points, the Marathon group is now rigorously reviewing all in-game property – particularly these created by the unidentified former artist. The studio will even implement stricter checks to doc all contributing artists sooner or later.
