This Is Not the First Time Bungie Has Been Accused of Stealing Art in Its Game: Marathon Controversy Explained

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This Is Not the First Time Bungie Has Been Accused of Stealing Art in Its Game: Marathon Controversy Explained

We’re back with another episode of ‘How Has Bungie Done This Again?’ as the studio behind titles like Destiny and Halo comes under fire once again. This time, Bungie allegedly used artwork without permission in its upcoming extraction shooter, Marathon, which is set to come out in September 2025.

Visual artist ANTIREAL has accused the developer of using her 2017 designs in the game’s alpha build without credit, pay, or approval. The craziest part about all this is that it isn’t even the first time the studio has been accused of doing something like this. So what is this fourth time’s the charm business?

Bungie has been accused of copying visual content again

The artist behind the accusation, known online as ANTIREAL, posted a series of messages on social media on May 15. She alleged that several visual assets from her work in 2017 appear throughout Marathon’s in-game environments. She claims there was no communication, consultation, or attempt to hire or credit her.

the Marathon alpha released recently and its environments are covered with assets lifted from poster designs i made in 2017.

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— N² (@4nt1r34l)

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Which is weird if we look at the fact that some members of the dev team even follow her account. The artist provided side-by-side comparisons of her designs and in-game screenshots showing nearly identical elements, such as stylized logos, text layouts, and symbols. Her statements are as follows:

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.

And she didn’t even stop there. “In 10 years, I have never made a consistent income from this work.” She continued, “I am tired of designers from huge companies mood-boarding and parasitising my designs while I struggle to make a living.”

Bungie’s response was swift, albeit familiar. In a

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from the official @MarathonDevTeam account, the company confirmed that a “former Bungie artist” had included Antireal’s designs in a texture sheet used in the alpha build. Bungie claimed the current team was unaware of the issue, stating, “We take matters like this very seriously… and are committed to doing right by the artist.”

It’s not even the first time this has happened

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Weirdly enough, this isn’t even Bungie’s first rodeo with a case like this. In 2023, the company admitted to using fan art in a Destiny 2 cutscene without proper credit. Another artist, Tofu_Rabbit, discovered their 2015 design had been used in a Destiny 2 weapon skin, leading the studio to issue an apology and compensation. In 2021, fan art of the character Xivu Arath was mistakenly used in a trailer for the Witch Queen expansion.

In each of these situations, the studio only acknowledged it after it was brought up by fans, or the artists themself. And it really isn’t something that can be pinned on one person. “This isn’t an oopsie you can blame on a former employee, your current employees follow this small artist,” said a commenter on X.

Bungie has promised stricter internal checks to avoid similar incidents in the future, including detailed documentation of all artist contributions and a more thorough audit of art assets. We’ll have to wait and see if it’s all words for show or if it actually makes a difference. If it doesn’t, then we’ll be the first to know when it happens again.

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#Time #Bungie #Accused #Stealing #Art #Game #Marathon #Controversy #Explained

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