Bungie responds to Marathon stolen art allegations as artist speaks out

Marathon developer Bungie has issued a statement confirming art seen in the new game was stolen from a third-party artist. These assets, which included various logos and textures used in the Marathon universe, were considered "unauthorized" after comparisons were made with the artist's work.

The statement came after the artist, known on X/Twitter as "4nt1r34l" (a.k.a. Antireal), spoke out about Bungie lifting elements from their projects for use in Marathon without their permission.

Antireal's post on X/Twitter sparked concerns of plagiarism by Bungie's art team responsible for Marathon. The post included side-by-side comparisons of Antireal's poster designs from a 2017 project.

Parts of the map or object textures were clearly inspired by elements from Antireal's posters, but even worse, some elements were straight-up taken one-for-one and applied to surfaces in Marathon.

"In 10 years I have never made a consistent income from this work and I am tired of designers from huge companies mood boarding and parasitizing my designs while I struggle to make a living," Antireal said.

Antireal added they don't have the resources to pursue the matter legally with Bungie, but noted they had "lost count" of the times a major company was paid to "imitate or steal my work" instead of simply reaching out to Antireal.

"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," Antireal concluded.

Bungie's statement came hours after Antireal's initial post, finding that a former artist at the company included Antireal's designs in a texture sheet that was used in the game's alpha. Bungie added the issue was "unknown" by the existing art team. "We are reviewing how this oversight occurred."

The company has also reached out to Antireal to discuss the unauthorized use of their assets. "As a matter of policy, we do not use the work of artists without their permission."

Unfortunately, this policy hasn't been airtight over the previous few years at Bungie. The Halo and Destiny franchise devs were caught using fan art several times of late, with a recent oversight involving a cutscene in 2023 and even a physical replica of the Ace of Spades in NERF form in 2024.

Further investigation by the community found more of Antireal's art and design philosophy included in the Marathon alpha, while it was revealed Marathon art director Joseph Cross had followed Antireal on social media for some time before the alpha launched last month.

Bungie is yet to comment further on the matter. It is unclear whether the company will offer compensation for the plagiarized work, but it is something Bungie has done in the past in similar situations.

Given the amount of stolen assets, it would take significant work to edit and change textures in-game, so perhaps it's for the best Bungie and Antireal come to an agreement.

For more Marathon news stay tuned to esports.gg.