Marathon is dying before release: Entire game art style is allegedly plagiarized
New drama hits Bungie ahead of Marathon release: Artist accuses Marathon of plagiarizing their entire art style without credit. See community and Bungie reactions.
Table of Contents
Key takeaways:
- Artist 4nt1r34l accused Bungie’s Marathon of plagiarizing their decade-long art style without credit.
- Bungie responded quickly, blaming a former employee and promising to review in-game assets.
- Fans have uncovered more allegedly stolen art, deepening concerns about the game’s visual integrity.
- The praised art style, once seen as Marathon’s highlight, is now its biggest controversy.
- Community trust is shaken, especially since key devs had followed the artist for years before the drama.
Another day, another Bungie scandal. And this time, it’s a serious one. Allegations of plagiarism have sparked heated debate, raising questions about artistic integrity, online creativity, and the blurred lines in today’s digital art world. Let’s break down what happened with Marathon’s alleged plagiarism, what it means, and why it matters.
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Marathon plagiarism accusation
Twitter user @4nt1r34l (or ANTIREAL) has sparked major controversy by accusing Bungie’s upcoming game Marathon of plagiarizing their artwork. In a detailed thread, the artist shared their personal story alongside a series of original pieces, directly comparing them to official visuals from Marathon. The similarities, according to many viewers, are hard to ignore.
The accusation has quickly gained traction across social media. You can view the full thread and comparisons yourself to form your own opinion.
“the Marathon alpha released recently and its environments are covered with assets lifted from poster designs i made in 2017.
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.
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.
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.”
— 4nt1r34l
Here are all the artwork examples, shown side by side with the official materials released for Marathon.
Bungie reaction
Say what you will about Bungie, but to their credit, their response in this situation was quick, and that’s at least one positive thing. Here’s what they said on Twitter:
“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.
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 second drama to hit Bungie this week. The first involved the Destiny 2 Rite of the Nine schedule, and in that case, the developers also responded quickly and managed to reach a decent compromise with the player base.
Joseph Cross’s apology
Later on May 16, Marathon Franchise Art Director Joseph Cross appeared on the Developer PlayMA livestream to discuss the situation further. He acknowledged the issue as Bungie’s fault and offered a personal apology to the 4nt1r34l.
Here is the full stream video, but I can also find a transcript of Joseph Cross’s speecр after that.
Community reaction
Although Bungie’s developers responded swiftly to community outrage and reportedly reached out to the artist 4nt1r34l, the situation continues to leave a bad taste in the mouth. Players are uncovering more alleged instances of plagiarism within Marathon, raising serious concerns about just how much of the game’s visual material may have been copied without permission.
The problem is, the entire Marathon launch was met with mixed reactions. While many players criticized nearly every aspect of the game preview, one element consistently received praise: its distinctive art style. And now we find out that the game’s biggest positive is actually its biggest negative, as all of it was allegedly plagiarized with no credit or loyalty to the original artist.
To make things even worse, both the artist and community members have pointed out that numerous Marathon developers have followed 4nt1r34l on Twitter for years. Among them is Joseph Cross, Franchise Art Director for Marathon. In light of this, Bungie’s official explanation (attributing the issue to a bad-faith former employee) has been met with increasing doubt from the community.
Previous “art theft” cases
As the situation unfolds, it’s hard not to recall previous accusations involving Bungie’s Destiny 2. In some cases, the issues were publicly acknowledged, while in others, we don’t have such confirmation. Still, taken together, these incidents may suggest a troubling pattern, that feels increasingly systemic.
Conclusion
While this situation is unpleasant from every angle, we hope at least one positive outcome emerges: that Bungie acknowledges the original artist with proper credit and fair compensation for their impressive and passionate work. The same respect should also go to the many developers and artists at Bungie who were not involved in any wrongdoing and were simply doing their jobs with integrity. In many ways, that’s the more important part of this story, not just the future of Marathon as a game, but the integrity and recognition of the people behind the art.
What do you think really happened here? Was this an isolated act by one bad-faith contributor, or a broader case of negligence? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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