Bungie admits they lifted independent artist's work as 'oversight' in Marathon texture sheet

Bungie has once again found itself in another controversy regarding art plagiarism in their upcoming extraction shooter Marathon. On May 15, 2025, an artist named Antireal shared that assets from her old designs were used in Marathon without credits. A response from the dev team later confirmed that several of the decals in the game were included in the texture sheet by a former artist.

The company has approached her regarding the issue and pledged to make things right. Following this, the situation was also addressed during the recent AMA developer livestream, with the lead art director, Joseph Cross, apologizing to Antireal.

Let’s check out the community sentiment and how morale at Bungie is reportedly at an all-time low.

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Community trust in Bungie on shaky grounds

Marathon’s recent playtest was shaky. One reason is likely due to a low number of players having access and the test being region-specific. However, the recent incident has lowered people’s confidence in Marathon and the studio.

Joseph Cross addressing the recent issue (Image via Bungie)

The developers confirmed that multiple instance of Antireal’s art was used throughout the game. While this was an Alpha build, it was played by thousands of players, and the artist was never credited or paid.

Bungie acknowledged their mistake, with Joseph Cross later explaining how the whole blunder occurred and promised prompt resolution. Cross revealed they are auditing all previous work by the artists to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

“I want to send my personal apology to Antireal, whose work was used in this case, and I know how unfair this feels, and we’re doing everything we can to make this right with her,” Cross further added on the matter.

However, it’s hard to convince the community for the same mistake multiple times. This isn’t the first time the studio has come under criticism for including designs without crediting original artists.

Besides the ongoing lawsuit regarding the vaulted Red War content, Destiny 2 previously faced similar accusations regarding weapons skins and game cutscenes for Lightfall expansion. Needless to say, the community is siding with the artist, which was very clear during the developer livestream.

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Bungie’s morale in free-fall

Studio morale in shambles after recent controversy (Image via Bungie)

Following the incident, the studio morale across all departments is in “free-fall” as reported by Paul Tassi from Forbes. Amidst the mixed reactions from the recent playtest, Tassi also reported that the feedback from developers were ignored by upper management.

Marathon was pitched as the next biggest thing and by the looks of it, a lot is riding on the game. Following the recent events, the studio's next move is yet to be revealed, but a delay for launch seems very likely.