Forbes: Marathon Info - Bungie's "Morale is in “free-fall” - “The vibes have never been worse.”

DonkeyPunchJr said:
At this point, there's only one person who can turn Marathon around:

images



Hermen, time to bring out the big guns, you know what you gotta do
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Down to clown.
 
Last Hearth said:
Are they ever going to share the names of the individual(s) who did the plagiarizing so other people know to stay away from hiring them?
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Nope because its bullshit. Nobody actually believes this story they are pedalling surely?

If they sacked the guy a while ago, what was it for? Can't be because of shit work because they used loads of it, also can't be because of the plagiarism either because they just found out about it.
 
clarky said:
I was willing to give this game the benefit of the doubt, but the art thing has completely fucked them and the stream last night was just plain weird. I concede, without a major delay and a rework this game is fucked.

The fact that they could show any footage yesterday on stream means the just don't know how much art has been lifted from other(s).

I don't think they are being entirely honest either, they have blamed this on a nameless grunt who doesn't work there anymore. LOL fuck off how stupid do you think we are?

I will say this. The artist whose work has been stolen has played this all wrong. Much better to wait until the product launched then sue the fuck out of them.
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of course they are dishonest, the very own "Franchise Art Director" was following the artist already. (which basically has the same identity as the game) they will need to change the art direction completly.
 
clarky said:
I was willing to give this game the benefit of the doubt, but the art thing has completely fucked them and the stream last night was just plain weird. I concede, without a major delay and a rework this game is fucked.

The fact that they could show any footage yesterday on stream means the just don't know how much art has been lifted from other(s).

I don't think they are being entirely honest either, they have blamed this on a nameless grunt who doesn't work there anymore. LOL fuck off how stupid do you think we are?

I will say this. The artist whose work has been stolen has played this all wrong. Much better to wait until the product launched then sue the fuck out of them.
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Wasn't it just so odd?

Like when I was 5 years old and swiped 5 cents worth of bubble gum from a store and mom marched me back there the following day and made me apologize and give them the nickel

The dude on the right did not want to be there at all, would not shock me hearing about his departure in 3, 2, 1...
 
ChorizoPicozo said:


of course they are dishonest, the very own "Franchise Art Director" was following the artist already. (which basically has the same identity as the game) they will need to change the art direction completly.
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I don't read much into that they followed the artist. That would be normal no? Like in concept meetings " This is the vibe we are going for" With examples like this and others on the white board. However this game seems so rushed that they have not had the time to remove or redesign the stuff they are ripping off.

I'd bet a left bollock that they are shitting it that there are other artists that have been plagiarised as well but they just don't know how far the rabbit hole goes.
 
HeisenbergFX4 said:
Wasn't it just so odd?

Like when I was 5 years old and swiped 5 cents worth of bubble gum from a store and mom marched me back there the following day and made me apologize and give them the nickel

The dude on the right did not want to be there at all, would not shock me hearing about his departure in 3, 2, 1...
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The whole thing was just so strange.

I sense further plot twists incoming. The explanation they gave was bullshit 100%
 
This launch is well and truly fucked at this stage.

Game wasn't even content-ready and now they have to deal with the plagiarism stuff too.
 
clarky said:
I don't read much into that they followed the artist. That would be normal no? Like in concept meetings " This is the vibe we are going for" With examples like this and others on the white board.
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yep, but of course we know this is not the case.
(because the designs were used in the game)

clarky said:
However this game seems so rushed that they have not had the time to remove or redesign the stuff they are ripping off.
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they are using the designs of the artist in marketing material. this is form the web page:

DO32TEI.jpeg

they are fucked. the easiest (and correct) thing Bungie has to do, is to hire the artist in the same position as that dude and retroactively pay the artist too.
 
ChorizoPicozo said:
yep, but of course we know this is not the case.
(because the designs were used in the game)


they are using the designs of the artist in marketing material. this is form the web page:

DO32TEI.jpeg

they are fucked. the easiest (and correct) thing Bungie has to do, is to hire the artist in the same position as that dude and retroactively pay the artist too.
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99% sure this is AI art assets that they are using.

I bet there are loads more artists stuff in the mix but its just not come out yet.

Not one for drama but I'd bet this gets cancelled at this point if I'm right on the above.
 
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ChorizoPicozo said:


it's directly from the artist
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Tiny bits are. What im saying is there must be other stuff ripped off other artists as well. But better concealed.

Lets get real its hardly Picasso they've ripped off. Designers Republic could probably have a beef with the OG artist.

This is the tip of the iceberg imo.
 
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The narrative about Sony is all over the place where last gen it was that they were playing it safe by releasing the same types of single player games over and over till it became a meme. They took a risk by expanding to different kinds of multiplayer stuff and now people come out of the woodwork to lament the lack of single player games.

They knew some would bomb. WE knew some would bomb being an experimental attempt at something. Now you have people who just hate GAAS that would have never been happy with what was putting out dancing on their graves that never say the same things when single player games tank or fail to release.

The thing is while Sony's ambitions were solid, their implementation was dogshit with some of the worst bungling...ever? There's a clear market for what they're going for, it's just others are doing a better job at it. Marvel Rivals ate Concord's lunch. Arc Raiders is getting the praise Marathon wants. Who the fuck knows what's going to Godzilla all over Fairgames. It's like watching a car crash again, again, and again.

I hope Marathon and the others can get what they need to properly launch with the best chances of success as possible. Right now though with the management they have it's looking doubtful. I'm not sure if there's anyone there who can pull off what they need to do.
 
HeisenbergFX4 said:
I will add a couple of things I took away from that stream yesterday that, to me, was concerning

The statement they made of wanting teams to be able to talk to other teams but they didn't know how to go about that

What is proximity chat Alex?
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Regarding this, they said that are working in the current milestone in different ways to communicate with both your team and also with the other ones including different ideas for ping system and communication wheel etc., that the ping sytem in the alpha was just a very raw minimum viable product version of it.

Proximity chat -or chat with people who isn't your friend in general- they didn't mention it but I think it is something that doesn't work for people who doesn't use mic, or has the other players muted, or for people who doesn't speak or understand English. It's also a source of toxicity, bad mood, breaking the experience, potential legal issues, moderation hell, etc.

But still, I think that even if they implement it (I would with an option to disable it and another option to mute the other players), they have to implement multi-language friendly alternatives for those who won't use mics or have screaming rat kinds (or the whole game) muted etc.

HeisenbergFX4 said:
Also I didn't hear them talk much about tuning for solo play but granted I took a phone call so maybe I missed them addressing that
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As I remember they made a reference about it here (timestamped):


Also briefly mentioned somewhere else that they are exploring different things to better suit different crew sizes.
 
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yurinka said:
Regarding this, they said that are working in the current milestone in different ways to communicate with both your team and also with the other ones including different ideas for ping system and communication wheel etc., that the ping sytem in the alpha was just a very raw minimum viable product version of it.

Proximity chat -or chat with people who isn't your friend in general- they didn't mention it but I think it is something that doesn't work for people who doesn't use mic, or has the other players muted, or for people who doesn't speak or understand English. It's also a source of toxicity, bad mood, breaking the experience, potential legal issues, moderation hell, etc.

But still, I think that even if they implement it (I would with an option to disable it and another option to mute the other players), they have to implement multi-language friendly alternatives for those who won't use mics or have screaming rat kinds (or the whole game) muted etc.


As I remember they made a reference about it here (timestamped):


Also briefly mentioned somewhere else that they are exploring different things to better suit different crew sizes.
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All this stuff should have been locked in months ago.
 
clarky said:
Tiny bits are.
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i think the issue that you are not seeing is that, the "graphic desing philosophy" of marathon is basically the same as this artist.

clarky said:
What im saying is there must be other stuff ripped off other artists as well. But better concealed.
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if this is the case, that's a stronger reason to change the art direction... this issue alone can make Sony cancel the game.


clarky said:
Lets get real its hardly Picasso they've ripped off. Designers Republic could probably have a beef with the OG artist.

This is the tip of the iceberg imo.
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ironic because picaso's style is shit too lol, but the point is:

The style of this artist is so good/fits perfectly (for marathon) to use it everywhere. This artist very well be, the lead "brand director" for this game. and she has a strong case to sue Bungie.
 
Sad to see Bungie fall so hard. They were one of my favorite devs back in the Halo days.

I really hope the industry learns a lesson and stops banking on GaaS. Please learn something from Sandfall and Larian.
 
ChorizoPicozo said:
i think the issue that you are not seeing is that, the "graphic desing philosophy" of marathon is basically the same as this artist.
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No I do see that, but I don't think that the general design is by artist they have ripped off either. Wipeout did it 30 years ago;
ChorizoPicozo said:
if this is the case, that's a stronger reason to change the art direction... this issue alone can make Sony cancel the game.
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I think this is absolutely on the cards now.
ChorizoPicozo said:
ironic because picaso's style is shit too lol, but the point is:

The style of this artist is so good/fits perfectly (for marathon) to use it everywhere. This artist very well be, the lead "brand director" for this game. and she has a strong case to sue Bungie.
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See above. Its hardly new or orgional. Its just Designers Republic, just not as good. Clearly the Artist drew major inspiration from their work, which is fine obviously. What Bungie did here is not.

The art director is getting fired for sure. The fact they all followed this artist shows they are complicit. Shit stinks.
 
Chuck Berry said:
Or actually give Marathon a true fucking singleplayer and pvp reboot in the real vein of the original games. Channel some OG Halo vibes. Easy layup.

Nope 😑
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Fooking A brother

Thing is, this would require literally 2 more years (3 'cause this is Bungie we're talking about) and about another couple hundred of millions...
Even IF they did this, at best, this could be a Halo infinite 2.0 case where...we all know how Halo infinite turned out to be (didn't move the proverbial needle in xbox's favor whatsoever), at worst, it'll have to sell an unholy amount of copies as to recuperate the costs (won't happen).

Basically, it's damned if you do, damned if you don't, Bungie is fooked either way.
How the mighty have fallen...
 
clarky said:
Buck surely has to stop with the art director. Dude is getting fired for sure.
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I guess they carry the overall responsibility but I think that's harsh. How many artists are working there. How many individual pieces of art and assets need to be vetted. Its unlikely that you catalogue everything in your head - every artist, pinterest, artstatoon, deviantart, twitter share. It will all blend into one.
 
adamsapple said:
  • Morale is in "free-fall" across all departments, and "the vibes have never been worse." Everyone has the same concerns about what happens to Bungie as a studio if Marathon bombs, which is something they absolutely cannot afford.
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Bungie employees should have already seen the writing on the wall. The studio has had major layoffs, the finances dropped like a rock missing forecasts and Sony even spliced out some Bungie people into SIE to make a new studio and game under its belt instead of leaving it labeled with the Bungie brand. And the buy out deal had some kind of clause that Sony execs can take over if they miss projections. And if those rumours are true, there isnt even a Destiny 3 at this point (unless that's all a bogus front so gamers focus on Marathon and D2 DLC while there is a D3 in the works coming out in lets say 2027 or 28). But if there's truly no D3, that makes the situation even worse.

How much more evidence do you need to know what might happen in the future?
 
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cormack12 said:
I guess they carry the overall responsibility but I think that's harsh. How many artists are working there. How many individual pieces of art and assets need to be vetted. Its unlikely that you catalogue everything in your head - every artist, pinterest, artstatoon, deviantart, twitter share. It will all blend into one.
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Normally I'd agree but its not like a logo or font has slipped though the net. A lot of stuff has been lifted wholesale. The entire direction of the art is lifted from , not inspired by, other peoples work.
 
cormack12 said:
I guess they carry the overall responsibility but I think that's harsh. How many artists are working there. How many individual pieces of art and assets need to be vetted. Its unlikely that you catalogue everything in your head - every artist, pinterest, artstatoon, deviantart, twitter share. It will all blend into one.
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In terms of being vetted comparing against internet images to prevent dupes (assuming any art asset on the net is even reverse searchable), arent every file coded to a user's name? Or maybe art assets are done different.

In Excel files, pretty sure if someone wants to know who made it you check the info and you'll see who created it and last modified it. And any ERP system with millions of transactions going on, any manual changes or approvals done by someone is coded with their profile name so you know who did it.

Then again, maybe with the gazillions of art stuff floating around maybe that stuff isn't easily auto-classified like above???
 
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