Bungie has acknowledged that an artist’s work was taken and utilized in its upcoming Marathon with out their permission.
Scottish artist Fern Hook, who posts as 4nt1r34l on social media, posted a collection of messages on X on Thursday, accusing Bungie of taking property from her earlier work and utilizing it within the newly launched alpha for the sport.
“The Marathon alpha launched lately and its environments are lined with property lifted from poster designs I made in 2017,” Hook claimed, posting quite a few comparability photographs.
“Bungie is after all not obligated to rent me when making a recreation that pulls overwhelmingly from the identical design language I’ve refined for the final decade, however clearly my work was adequate to pillage for concepts and plaster throughout their recreation with out pay or attribution.”
the Marathon alpha launched lately and its environments are lined with property lifted from poster designs i made in 2017.@Bungie @josephacross pic.twitter.com/0Csbo48Jgb
— N² (@4nt1r34l) Could 15, 2025
Bungie has now acknowledged that Hook’s claims are correct, and that the employees member liable for the obvious plagiarism is not employed there.
“We instantly investigated a priority concerning unauthorized use of artist decals in Marathon and confirmed {that a} former Bungie artist included these in a texture sheet that was finally used in-game,” a press release within the recreation’s official Discord server reads. “This problem was unknown by our current artwork staff, and we’re nonetheless reviewing how this oversight occurred.
“We take issues like this very severely. We’ve got reached out to 4nt1r34l to debate this problem and are dedicated to do proper by the artist. As a matter of coverage, we don’t use the work of artists with out their permission.
“To stop related points sooner or later, we’re conducting a radical assessment of our in-game property, particularly these completed by the previous Bungie artist, and implementing stricter checks to doc all artist contributions. We worth the creativity and dedication of all artists who contribute to our video games, and we’re dedicated to doing proper by them. Thanks for bringing this to our consideration.”
Hook additionally claimed that numerous Bungie artists have been following her on social media for numerous years, implying that they’ve been conscious of her work for a while.
“In 10 years I’ve by no means made a constant revenue from this work and I’m bored with designers from enormous corporations moodboarding and parasitising my designs whereas I wrestle to make a residing,” she wrote.
Since her preliminary posts, nonetheless, Hook has famous that she has acquired a wealth of help in addition to donations supporting her work, which she says “helps enormously”.
Marathon is ready for launch on September 23 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Sequence and PC. Bungie has confirmed that the sport will probably be a “premium product”, although the studio has but to verify the worth.
It was reported final 12 months that Bungie and Sony are reportedly contemplating a $40 price ticket for Marathon. This value level would convey it according to Helldivers 2 and the now-defunct Harmony.
