An artist has accused Bungie of plagiarising her designs and using them in upcoming first-person shooter Marathon. The artist, who creates futuristic posters under the name Antireal (or “4nt1r34l”), posted images of her own work alongside screenshots from Marathon’s recent alpha playtest, showing that some designs have been copied. Bungie have confirmed this is the case, but lay the blame on one former artist at the studio.
“The Marathon alpha released recently and its environments are covered with assets lifted from poster designs i made in 2017,” said the artist on Xitter. “Bungie is of course not obligated to hire me when making a game that draws overwhelmingly from the same design language I have refined for the last decade, but clearly my work was good enough to pillage for ideas and plaster all over their game without pay or attribution.”
The images she shares as proof clearly show elements from her posters reused without alteration on objects in the extraction shooter, like walls, containers, and tarpaulins. Another image she made seems to be the basis for designs used during Marathon’s ARG in April and on the game’s official website. You can even make out the artist’s handle “Antireal” in one of the offending game assets, as pointed out by one of her fans. Several of the artists at Bungie, including art director Joseph Cross, have been following the independent artist on social media while working on the game.
“I don’t have the resources nor the energy to spare to pursue this legally,” she says, “but I have lost count of the number of times a major company has deemed it easier to pay a designer to imitate or steal my work than to write me an email.
“In 10 years I have never made a consistent income from this work and I am tired of designers from huge companies moodboarding and parasitising my designs while I struggle to make a living.”
Bungie have responded to the artist’s complaints. They say it’s true that her work appeared in the game’s alpha, but claim this was an “oversight” and only one former employee from their art team is responsible.
“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,” said the studio in a post on social media. “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.”
But policy is one thing and practice is another. This is the 4th time an artist has come forward to complain that Bungie have used their work without permission, as pointed out by PC Gamer. Last year, they copied an artist’s designs for a Nerf gun in a case that was eventually resolved. In 2023 they copied a design by digital artist Julian Faylona for a Destiny 2 cutscene. And in 2021 they used a fan’s art in a trailer without asking. Bungie also still face a copyright lawsuit by a writer who alleges the game’s Red War storyline stole from his ideas (although it should be said this case is not so cut and dry as the above art nabbings).
Bungie say they will take steps to prevent things like this happening again, and that they’ll go through the work of the bus-undered employee to make sure there are not other cases of plagiarism.
“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.”
It might be fair to read such promises with a wary eye, given the studio’s recent record. If you like Marathon’s design style, you might enjoy the original work of Antireal, whose posters are viewable on her website.
