As Destiny 2 developer Bungie works to rebuild trust following fresh allegations that the studio used an independent artist’s work without permission in its upcoming title Marathon, the community is left questioning what comes next.
Last week, accusations surfaced prompting Bungie to launch an "immediate investigation." The studio later confirmed that a "former Bungie artist" had indeed used Fern Hook’s artwork without proper credit or compensation.
By late Friday, Marathon’s game director Joe Ziegler and art director Joe Cross issued a tense public apology during a notably awkward livestream. Notably, the stream featured no gameplay or visuals from Marathon itself, as the team explained they were still “scrubbing all of our assets to make sure we are being respectful of the situation.”
Since then, players have been digging into the identity of the alleged "former artist," with some questioning whether such a person even exists. Many fans expressed disillusionment, stating they simply "just feel hollow." Others debated whether Marathon can still succeed, and what failure might mean for one of gaming's most iconic studios.
"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 until 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 reference to "Concord" points to Firewalk Studios' online hero shooter, which was pulled from sale less than two weeks after launch last year. Its performance was widely regarded as a failure, with analysts estimating sales as low as 25,000 units. It peaked at just 697 concurrent players on Steam—a number dwarfed even by the underwhelming 12,786 peak of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which was labeled a disappointment by Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav.
Marathon - Gameplay Screenshots
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In another thread, a fan reflected on a detailed breakdown of the controversy by Destiny lore YouTuber My Name is Byf, 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 steps toward ensuring this never happens again. I want them to win back whatever goodwill they can to make this game special (Goodwill, a delay, anything). I WANT to see the Marathon ship in this artstyle, man."
Still, not everyone sees the issue as a dealbreaker.
"Ima be real I’m excited for this game. All this art drama is way overblown," said one hopeful player. "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 other artists and so on. Of course, it's not cool to blatantly copy/paste someone's work, but then again, even the concept of completely original art is debatable. There are documented cases of people creating nearly identical art independently around the same time. 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 another commenter. Meanwhile, Forbes recently reported that the studio is in "chaos," with morale reportedly in "free fall." Marathon is scheduled to launch for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S on September 23.
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