Bungie Apologies for Stolen Paintings in ‘Marathon’

Recreation developer Bungie has hit a snag with its upcoming extraction shooter, Marathon. The September-bound sport and its creator have come below hearth for stealing artwork initially created by visible and musical artist Antireal with out credit score.

On Thursday, Antireal highlighted the sport’s latest alpha playtest and famous its environments “are coated with belongings lifted from poster designs I made in 2017.” To show her level, she in contrast a number of graphics inside Marathon that look much like her personal, and contrasted a graphic sheet from the sport’s press equipment with extra of her 2017 work. She additionally noted a number of Bungie staff—together with Joseph Cross, the sport’s artwork director—has adopted her on social media for years and “by no means had any communication along with her.”

the Marathon alpha launched just lately and its environments are coated with belongings lifted from poster designs i made in 2017.@Bungie @josephacross pic.twitter.com/0Csbo48Jgb

— N² (@4nt1r34l) May 15, 2025

“Bungie is after all not obligated to rent me when making a sport that pulls overwhelmingly from the identical design language I’ve refined for the final decade,” she wrote, “however clearly my work was ok to pillage for concepts and plaster throughout their sport with out pay or attribution.”

On Thursday evening, after “speedy investigation,” Bungie acknowledged {that a} former artist included Antireal’s work “in a texture sheet that was in the end used in-game.  This concern was unknown by our present artwork group, and we’re nonetheless reviewing how this oversight occurred. We’ve reached out to Antireal to debate this concern and are dedicated to do proper by the artist.”

Throughout a Friday livestream, Cross defined the previous worker positioned Antireal’s artwork “with out permission or acknowledgement” in a decal sheet checked in again in 2020. He then issued an apology to Antireal, saying there was “no excuse for this oversight. […] I understand how unfair this feels, and we’re doing every part we are able to to make this proper along with her. Her work is incredible, and we clearly share a mutual appreciation for a selected style of graphic design.”

#Marathon artwork director Joseph Cross admits designs have been stolen from artist antireal

• Claims a former Bungie worker was accountable

• Fourth time lately Bungie has been accused of plagiarism pic.twitter.com/VC81r5iAw7

— Tradition Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) May 16, 2025

As Polygon notes, Bungie’s beforehand come below hearth lately for utilizing fanmade art work with out correct credit score or permission in marketing and cutscenes for Future 2, plus a Nerf gun. The studio later received permission from these respective artists and compensated not less than certainly one of them. For Marathon, Cross stated it’s conducting a extra thorough assessment of in-game belongings extra broadly, and from the unnamed ex-artist specifically. Any artwork found to be “questionably or inappropriately sourced” can be faraway from the alpha construct and recreated in-house.

At time of writing, Marathon continues to be anticipated to launch on September 23 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Collection X|S, and PC.

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