As Destiny 2 developer Bungie scrambles to recover its reputation after yet another independent artist accused the studio of "lifting" their artwork in Marathon, the community around the developer is pondering what's next.
Last week's accusation prompted an "immediate investigation" and acknowledgment from the studio that a "former Bungie artist" had indeed used Fern Hook's work without compensation or credit.
Then, on Friday night, Marathon game director Joe Ziegler and art director Joe Cross apologized during a notably uncomfortable livestream. They refrained from showcasing any Marathon art or footage, explaining that the team was "still scrubbing all of our assets to ensure we are being respectful of the situation."
Since then, players have been trying to identify the "former artist"—if one exists, as some are skeptical. Others express feeling "hollow" about the situation. There's also a growing concern about whether Marathon can still succeed, and what a potential "flop" might mean for the renowned studio.
"The game went from mixed/negative reception to PLAGIARISM_WILL_MAKE_ME_GOD, four months from launch in the eyes of the larger gaming community. If they don't delay it, it's 100% DOA," suggested one player. "If the game does in fact die, we're talking over $100 million+ lost (probably a gross underestimate for a AAA game/studio). So yeah, really bad. Make no mistake, this is an existential struggle for Bungie at this point."
"I think it releases to a very lukewarm reception, similar to the Destiny expansion in July," hypothesized another. "It will last til January for active updates, put in maintenance mode til about summer 2026, then shut down with Bungie finally absorbed into Sony."
"We have no way of knowing, and after the Concord situation, I’m sure Sony isn’t taking any of this lightly," reminded someone else. The "Concord situation" refers to Firewalk Studios' online hero shooter, which was infamously pulled from sale less than two weeks after launch last year. Its launch was disastrous, with analysts telling IGN it has likely sold as few as 25,000 units. It debuted to a low 697 peak concurrent players on Steam, a number that made the 12,786 players of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League — which was dubbed a disappointment by Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav — seem impressive.
Marathon - Gameplay Screenshots
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In a different thread, a fan reflected on Destiny lore YouTuber My Name is Byf's excellent video summary of the situation, saying: "Watching the video just sort of reminded me that most of the people who will likely be affected if Bungie goes under are completely unrelated employees that don't deserve to be punished over this. I sort of feel ill about the whole situation now [...] I want to see them make an effort to [independent artist] Antireal. I want to see them take the steps towards making sure this never happens again. I want them to win back whatever they need to make this game special (Goodwill, a delay, anything). I WANT to see the Marathon ship in this artstyle, man."
However, not all potential players are deterred by the situation.
"Ima be real I’m excited for this game. All this art drama is way overblown," said one. "I think from what I’ve gathered in this game I fully anticipate the aliens to inevitably make their way into the game. Other than that I’d like the characters to be customizable but I anticipate any big changes like that to come later. Very hyped for Marathon."
"I can't remember who exactly, but it was a famous musician talking about how he would never copyright others' music because all music eventually comes back to the same source," replied another. "Basically the same principle every artist has been inspired by some other artists and so on and so forth. Of course, it's not cool to blatantly just copy/paste someone's work, but then again, even the concept of completely original art is debatable. Especially since there are recorded cases of people making basically the same art around the same time as someone else. So yeah, it's pretty overblown."
"For any Bungie employees checking in here, please remember that you have millions of fans that want to see Marathon succeed," added someone else. Forbes now claims the studio is in "chaos," with morale at the studio in "free fall." Marathon is set to launch for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S on September 23.
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