Bungie has issued a statement addressing plagiarism claims involving its upcoming game Marathon, confirming that a former artist included unauthorized artwork in the alpha build.
It’s been a wild day for Bungie and the upcoming extraction shooter Marathon. Earlier today, a digital artist accused the studio of using her artwork without permission. Now, the developer has finally broken its silence.
The studio has now released an official statement confirming the issue and laying out what happened behind the scenes, and what steps they’re taking next.
Bungie’s Response to Marathon Plagiarism Claims
The controversy kicked off when digital artist 4nt1r34l took to social media, pointing out that her poster art from 2017 was being used in the Marathon closed alpha test. She posted side-by-side comparisons on X (Twitter), showing that her designs were almost directly lifted into the game’s environments.
Naturally, this caught a lot of attention, especially given Bungie’s previous run-ins with uncredited art in Destiny 2 and its merchandise. A couple of minutes ago, Bungie posted a detailed response on the official MarathonDevTeam accounts, admitting that unauthorized art did make its way into the game.
According to the studio, a former Bungie artist included these assets in a texture sheet that ended up being used in-game. Bungie also made it clear that the current art team didn’t know about the issue until the accusations surfaced online.
Here’s Bungie’s official statement in full, as posted on social media:
“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.”
Bungie also promised a full review of Marathon’s in-game assets, especially those handled by the former artist involved, and said it is putting stricter systems in place to prevent something like this from happening again.
What do you think about Bungie’s response? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
