Bungie admits to lifting art for Marathon without credit

After visual and musical artist Antireal (@4nt1r34l) accused Bungie of using her artwork without credit in Marathon’s recently released alpha build, the studio has admitted to wrongdoing.

On Thursday, Antireal said on X, “The Marathon alpha released recently and its environments are covered with assets lifted from poster designs I made in 2017.” And she came with receipts, showing triangular V graphics, a series of boxed icons, and a script reading ‘ALEPH’ in Marathon’s alpha that mirrors her designs. On top of that, she connected a graphic sheet from Marathon’s press kit to more of her work from 2017.

In response, Bunjie admitted fault in the situation, posting on X, “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.”

Bunjie further stated, “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.” The company also noted that it has “reached out to 4nt1r34l to discuss this issue and are committed to do right by the artist.”

Antireal’s support community took doing right by the artist into their own hands by donating to the artist through her Ko-fi page. She posted, “Completely overwhelmed by the response to this — thank you so much for the support and especially to those who have donated, it helps enormously.”

This isn’t the first time Bungie has faced accusations of using independent artists’ work without permission. In 2021, the studio acknowledged that fan art of a Destiny 2 character was used in a trailer without permission, which was resolved with Bunjie acquiring permission with proper creditation. In 2023, Bungie again had to reach out to credit and compensate an independent artist for fan art used in a Destiny 2 cutscene. And last year, it admitted to using fan art for a Destiny 2 NERF gun. This Marathon incident is the latest in a pattern of Bunjie lifting visual art from uncredited sources.