Ex-Bungie artist plagiarizes art for marathon (Up: Bungie confirm, offer to do right by the original artist)
- Thread starter Hideous Snake
- Start date
Neon Xenon
Member
Honestly, the art direction was one of the few things that even got me interested in Marathon (2025) in the first place, and is one of the few things people praised after its reveal. Then it turns out the the artstyle was just straight-up stolen from an artist.
And that's without mentioning that this is the FOURTH occurrence of art theft at Bungie. What in the actual fuck is going on over there?
Even with any resolution on Bungie's part, by running a check over to Antireal or whatever, this is a permanent stain on Marathon (2025). I see a delay taking place, but a delay isn't going to fix the reputation this game has right now.
And that's without mentioning that this is the FOURTH occurrence of art theft at Bungie. What in the actual fuck is going on over there?
Even with any resolution on Bungie's part, by running a check over to Antireal or whatever, this is a permanent stain on Marathon (2025). I see a delay taking place, but a delay isn't going to fix the reputation this game has right now.
Topher
Identifies as young
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
I hear it was a hit in the Braille community.
POKEYCLYDE
Member
I've seen people saying it looks like dogshit and people saying it's the only redeeming quality of the game. Personally I thought it was interesting and unique.
I wasn't going to give Marathon a shot unless it was $20 or cheaper, but now even if it's free to play I don't know that I can bring myself to play a game from a company that so blatantly steals from independent artists.
Topher
Identifies as young
It's unique I get that, but I missed those calling it anything other than dogshit, I guess
Griffon
Member
To be fair, if Bungie was simply inspired by that style, it would've been fine.
But downright copy pasting his work into the game, and they've already been caught red-handed doing it in prior works? Now that's a very easy suit to win.
Previously I was skeptical about the story about Bungie bering sued for the Destiny 2 Red War being lifted from a scifi novel... Now I'm not skeptical anymore, the chances it actually happened seem pretty damn high.
But downright copy pasting his work into the game, and they've already been caught red-handed doing it in prior works? Now that's a very easy suit to win.
Previously I was skeptical about the story about Bungie bering sued for the Destiny 2 Red War being lifted from a scifi novel... Now I'm not skeptical anymore, the chances it actually happened seem pretty damn high.
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Neon Xenon
Member
It was a point of praise from the very first trailer, and carried through up to...well, yesterday. Not going to pretend that there was 100% wide appeal for the visuals, nor should there be.
Granted, most of my interest in the artstyle was that I like The Designers Republic since WipEout (and GTA1), but that's beside the point.
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DeepEnigma
Gold Member
Shut them down, or clean house from all their fraudulent hacks. You know, the cunts that have the motto, "gotta fake it to make it, slayyyyy."
Worthless.
Worthless.
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ChorizoPicozo
Member
Dr. Samuel Hayden
Member
POKEYCLYDE
Member
Art Raiders lol.
Neon Xenon
Member
This is one of the worst parts of scandals that involve big corporations: You end up with front-facing people like Joe Ziegler who have to be thrown up as shields for a company fuckup that he didn't cause.
That said: The streamchat roasts are funny. There is no denying the humor of "PLAGIARISM WILL MAKE ME GOD".
bender
What time is it?
KyoZz
Tag, you're it.
TintoConCasera
I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Imagine having all this cool as fuck stuff to draw inspiration from, yet you decide to plagiarize some dude's art instead.
What a joke. $3.6 billion studio by the way.
What a joke. $3.6 billion studio by the way.
Audiophile
Member
Savage:
kevboard
Member
"fuuuck! were can I steal grass, rock and tree designs from?" -Bungie "artists", 2025
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Schmendrick
Banned
Yeah this isn't just a case of "inspired by", this level of blatant copy would make a Chinese proud.
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
Yeah. It's pains me but this beyond dead. Concord 2.0 incoming.
Ffs bungie, making it hard to care about you in the slightest as a studio. One of my favourites too
Plagiarism is an absolute no from me. So many artists struggle to make ends meat from their art and you have this fucking studio that has walked around like they are the dog bollocks for over 10 years, trick Sony to buy them for 3.6bill ....and they can't approach an artist to pay them for their work if it has influenced or been used in their game to this extent.
Fuck bungie. Time to die!
Ffs bungie, making it hard to care about you in the slightest as a studio. One of my favourites too
Plagiarism is an absolute no from me. So many artists struggle to make ends meat from their art and you have this fucking studio that has walked around like they are the dog bollocks for over 10 years, trick Sony to buy them for 3.6bill ....and they can't approach an artist to pay them for their work if it has influenced or been used in their game to this extent.
Fuck bungie. Time to die!
Hypereides
Member
Modern Bungie is what happens when you get consumed by money, make short-sighted decisions, chase away your talent like Marty O'Donnell, and think you can coast on your name and reputation alone. Other AAA studios should take note from this incident and learn from it.
If Hulst isn't inches away from getting demoted by now or something then I don't know what is.
If Hulst isn't inches away from getting demoted by now or something then I don't know what is.
A single instance of "a mix-up", lol. Whoever was responsible for the art department needs to get booted and art department team needs to be sacked. Maybe take a lesson or two from Sandfall about seeking talented and gifted people through alternative channels.The repeat offenders:
Quantum253
Gold Member
Its okay now. It's being "looked into"
kevboard
Member
I love how he says they were inspired by his stuff while it's basically a 1 to 1 copy with the character in the center slightly moved a bit lol.
same design, same amount of pyramids, same orientation, same position... same orb, same circles around the orb.
Quantum253
Gold Member
I want to know if a good LM operator creates something ( which could be really hard to tell, on face value, it's AI generated) posts online, then ends up being used by someone at Bungie.
Is that less plagiarism or does it carry the same weight as digital creation from a blank template. At what point is it going to become to hard to tell without having to deep dive into the matter?
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
That livestream was brutal 
POKEYCLYDE
Member
That live stream was run as well as the studio is.
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
Is this really in the game? Holy shit. This game is DOA. The well is completely poisoned.
StreetsofBeige
Member
Give Bungie credit screwing Sony out of $3.6B buying them out.
They stole art style and cut/paste assets from people to prop up their game in development fast to show Jim and Hermen.
And the Sony execs fell for it liking what they see in Marathon. And because the alpha didnt come out until 3 years after being bought out, it's long past going back. Game coming out in 4 months. Gotcha. lol
The green shirt art director is done. I doubt he'll even be around in a month. No wonder he looks so disinterested. Guy knows he's halfway out the door already.
At about the mid point of the feed (around 30 min in), he actually had the gall when asked about what inspired the art, he brought up Wipeout when the core vibe (and clearly stolen cut paste art) came from Anti Life artist. lol
They stole art style and cut/paste assets from people to prop up their game in development fast to show Jim and Hermen.
And the Sony execs fell for it liking what they see in Marathon. And because the alpha didnt come out until 3 years after being bought out, it's long past going back. Game coming out in 4 months. Gotcha. lol
The green shirt art director is done. I doubt he'll even be around in a month. No wonder he looks so disinterested. Guy knows he's halfway out the door already.
At about the mid point of the feed (around 30 min in), he actually had the gall when asked about what inspired the art, he brought up Wipeout when the core vibe (and clearly stolen cut paste art) came from Anti Life artist. lol
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Holy shit... you are absolutely right. Basically fake a game and creative vision to trick them into a huge 3.6B purchase.
I wonder what legal action Sony could take, if any? I cannot even imagine how pissed leadership must be. Heads are going to roll for this.
This is absolutely DOA.
ChorizoPicozo
Member
I wonder if they can even close the studio before the legal stuff ends (payout or something like that). I mean, the studio has been gutted, two studios have been formed outside Bungie (under sony´s control). One thing is for certain: Sony ain't gonna save Bungie, that for sure. If it dies, it dies. And we know they are already half dead due to Destiny´s situation.
EverydayBeast
ChatGPT 0.001
Major violation, certainly won't be playing Marathon anyway, just one game mode? Once Marathon goes to game pass maybe there's hidden beauty in there, I give them credit on doing a game like this but they have to rebound after that alpha beta.
SILKYSMOOTH30FPS
Member
You know, i hear a bunch of snowflakes bitchin' about the fact that there's this negativity surrounding the content creation scene, and that they're soooo sick of it. For me it's the extreme opposite. I have been waiting for this for a while. This negativity is what kills shitty studios that have been polluting the gaming industry (same thing applies to cinema) for the longest time. Nobody is being a negative nancy when the game is a banger (exp33 as of late). People being negative toward games, devs and publishers that don't only deserve it, but have been deserving it for 10+ years, and it's only now the community have risen, and are calling it out for what it is, fking slop that is also usually polluted with a shitton of mtx. Why the hell wouldn't you be negative about such stains in the industry? To me it only makes sense. I will do my part, and poopoo on this game like its an ubisoft product
And while this is a Bungie's game, i am constantly reminded in 2025 how absolutely dogshit and out of touch Sony has become.
And while this is a Bungie's game, i am constantly reminded in 2025 how absolutely dogshit and out of touch Sony has become.
StreetsofBeige
Member
I have no idea what kind of legal issues there could be if youre thinking Sony vs Bungie/Pete Parsons. They now own them for 3 years and they are now their own employees. Can Sony go after the ex-employee saying they sabotaged the game years ago stealing someone else's art? I dont know.
It's a weird thing. I dont know anything about big contracts like this (esp if if it involves art). Any contracts I've seen are simple involving $$$, rates and easy to understand circumstances. There's nothing to steal or plagiarize, so there would never be anything related to that.
I wonder if and what kind of clauses companies have if it involves stolen work. If it's not, then maybe Sony has nothing they can do except accept the fall out???
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StreetsofBeige
Member
Also, it seems that it wasnt one rogue employee copying Anti Real. I think right now, it's one rogue ex-employee claimed as the bad apple.
It turns out a bunch of Bungie employees follow that indie creator. So it seems logical a bunch of them all copied her unless they successfully argue they might had followed her account, but never looked at it or used her pics. Where it was only one guy who did it.
It turns out a bunch of Bungie employees follow that indie creator. So it seems logical a bunch of them all copied her unless they successfully argue they might had followed her account, but never looked at it or used her pics. Where it was only one guy who did it.
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StreetsofBeige
Member
yet_another_alt
Member
I thought the art style looked like sterile shit. I don't know if knowing it's also stolen makes it better or worse. I don't know how to feel so I'll just laugh at Sony cause at least it's becoming even more and more obvious that they got bamboozled into buying this studio. Probably tripped over themselves trying to get the studio behind Halo under their umbrella.
StreetsofBeige
Member
I dont think this game will get delayed or cancelled.
It makes no difference if a lot of those other issues are fixed up well too..... hazy graphics, prox chat, solo queue etc...
Gamers and streamers will forever brand Marathon as shady cut and paste game. Even if this whole plagiarism issue is solved in the game and with the creator, this game will get forever dunked on due to this.
Good luck Bungie with Marathon's release.
It makes no difference if a lot of those other issues are fixed up well too..... hazy graphics, prox chat, solo queue etc...
Gamers and streamers will forever brand Marathon as shady cut and paste game. Even if this whole plagiarism issue is solved in the game and with the creator, this game will get forever dunked on due to this.
Good luck Bungie with Marathon's release.
The Stream was a humiliation ritual for him.
ChorizoPicozo
Member
and Bungie and Sony
SILKYSMOOTH30FPS
Member
Watched their live stream through asmon's stream, and wow. So amateurish, it's as if this was a 1 man crew trying to sell you a cheap $4.99 indie game. Stealing assets is bad, but this game is rotten from the core. Stolen or not, nothing will change when this launches. And i am beginning to wonder what Sony is even gonna do lol. No shot they close two games down within a week, i don't think this is happening, so my best guess is that they'll take the suffering route a la Suicide Squad, and just deliver POS content for a year, then post their apology letter written by chatgpt, and Marathon is gone.
But personally, i look at the art style and how "clean" and easy to spot enemies is in this game, and i think that a BR would fit it much better. Wouldn't be interested one bit, but for what the game is, a BR is better suited and easier to build.
But personally, i look at the art style and how "clean" and easy to spot enemies is in this game, and i think that a BR would fit it much better. Wouldn't be interested one bit, but for what the game is, a BR is better suited and easier to build.
StreetsofBeige
Member
I dont think gamers who like the game or are core Bungie gamers will even care much at all about the plagiarism debacle.
But if the game does release so it's in the spotlight more, this game will get laughed at like Concord to the nines. Concord laughs faded away when the game and studio did.
So if Sony/Bungie want to release and support the game for years like any other shooter, they better be ready for ridicule for years. And because the issue involves plagiarism which is something on a personal level as opposed to a game being forgotten due to bad netcode or crashes, the laughs will be aimed at Bungie people directly.
Similar to Concord. Game's character art got laughed at coming from DEI loving employees.
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