Bungie aren’t having a very good week are they? First there were those accusations of Marathon using assets without permission from the artist 4ant1r34l (Antireal), which Bungie admitted to taking place. Then yesterday there was a livestream featuring game director Joe Ziegler and art director Joseph Cross which was filled with chat messages about said asset usage for practically the entire stream. Ziegler and Cross did at least address those messages, but with the response to the shooter already being quite mixed thus far, it doesn’t amount to much right now.
Things also don’t sound great internally at Bungie right now either. Several current and former employees reportedly spoke with Forbes about where Bungie and Marathon are at right now, with morale apparently in “free-fall” across all departments. One source supposedly said “the vibes have never been worse”, and staff are concerned about what happens if Marathon flops, something the studio can’t afford. There’s been nothing said about a potential delay from the current September release date, and it’s unclear at a lower level if those discussions are being had by higher-ups.
When it comes to the art theft in particular, the explanation that’s been provided publicly – that these assets were from a texture sheet made by a former Bungie artist – is the internal explanation as well.
Bungie’s marketing plans sound like they’re out the window too. A new trailer was meant to be coming in June, as well as the start of pre-orders, but this is apparently being reworked. A public beta meant to be held in August could now be turned into a “roadmap of public playtests” as well.
Those that spoke with Forbes also said that Marathon was pitched by higher-up “good old boy” Bungie leadership, and as long as five years ago team members were trying to explain what would and wouldn’t work. They were frequently ignored. Apparently many devs even noted there should be some kind of PvE element to the game, a frequent complaint you will likely have seen about the game by now.
Bungie are in a very precarious position right now. They have lots of Destiny 2 updates and expansions on the way, but there’s no guarantees that’ll bring people back the way it needs to. Who knows if there’s even time to fix these big issues Marathon is facing. We’ll just have to wait and see for now.
