Bungie Confirms ‘Unauthorized Use’ Of Art After Artist Claims Her Work Is Present Throughout Marathon

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Bungie Confirms ‘Unauthorized Use’ Of Art After Artist Claims Her Work Is Present Throughout Marathon

Artist

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yesterday that she found her art spread throughout the environment in Bungie’s recent

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alpha. With copious examples (and others online finding even more as people pour through alpha footage) as proof, Antireal’s posts on Bluesky began to blow up, with many calling out Bungie for what looked like apparent plagiarism. Less than 24 hours later, the Marathon Dev Team X account

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confirming the “unauthorized use” of Antireal’s work.

“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 X post reads. “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 [Antireal] to discuss this issue and are committed to do right by the artist.”

The thread continues, “As a matter of policy, we do not use the work of artist 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.”

You can see Antireal’s first claim of art theft in the image below, a set of comparison pictures – the evidence is pretty damning, and as more people find more examples of her art in Marathon, it’s looking more widespread than originally believed.

 

Sadly, Antireal is no stranger to this kind of art theft. “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,” she writes on

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. “In 10 years, I have never made a consistent income from this work and I am tired of designers from huge companies moodboarding and parasiting my designs while I struggle to make a living.”

In an interview with

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, Antireal said, “I’d kind of had to learn to shut up about these cases because they’ve happened so constantly over the past 10 years. It was tiring to be viewed as ‘someone who complains’ more than as an artist. But the response this time has been overwhelmingly understanding and I’m extremely thankful for the support.”

That response is likely what prompted Bungie to finally step in, as the amount of evidence surfacing of Antireal’s art appearing in Marathon is undeniable.

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, while others are more recent. Antireal also

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that Marathon’s art director Joseph Cross has followed her on X for years (and a few others from Bungie) but that the two have never communicated.

Bungie claims the lifted art is the result of a former artist’s texture sheet, but is investigating how this stolen art slipped through the cracks – cracks that Cross is likely responsible for keeping an eye on, considering he’s the game’s art director.

This is not the first time Bungie has plagiarized an artist’s work. In 2023, it announced it was compensating and crediting an artist whose art was mistakenly used in a cutscene in Destiny 2, as reported by

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.

Marathon launches September 23 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. With so much of Antireal’s art currently in Marathon, it’s unclear what will happen in the future regarding the game’s release. Between needing to make right this situation, and a lukewarm reception to the game’s recent Alpha, it wouldn’t be surprising if Bungie and publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment delayed the game to address these issues.

In the meantime,

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. 

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#Bungie #Confirms #Unauthorized #Art #Artist #Claims #Work #Present #Marathon

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