An artist has called out Marathon developer Bungie, claiming the company stole his artwork that she’d created as far back as 2017.
Marathon’s been in development for a long while, with the game getting delayed after internal playtests went awry and those overseeing the project didn’t have faith it’d succeed. Lo and behold, players weren’t too hot on it during the Closed Alpha, either.
However, one thing Marathon’s been almost universally praised for is its art style. It stands out from anything Bungie’s done in the past and gives the game an identity of its own, even if there won’t be a main story mode for the title when it releases.
But one artist called out the developer directly, showing a side-by-side of images they’d created in 2017 next to assets they claim Bungie stole, with some having exact text and imagery that isn’t really relevant to anything in Marathon’s universe.
Artist calls out Marathon after finding her own logo in-game
Marathon’s art style is simultaneously minimalist and busy, using patterns of simple shapes and bright colors to create something that’s very visually distinct.
However, artist Antireal called out Bungie on social media, claiming they ripped assets from several different art pieces and sprinkled them throughout the game, using them to decorate buildings and make decor look futuristic.
These claims were accompanied by the below images, ones that compare her work from almost a decade ago to what was in-game.
And, while Bungie is innocent until proven guilty here, the fact that Antireal’s logo showed up in-game doesn’t exactly read like an homage to the artist’s work.
Another big giveaway here is that one of the assets spotted multiple times in Marathon’s Alpha says, “Aleph.” Antireal is a music producer, but she also works with several other Neurofunk producers to create album covers and merch that emulates this specific style she’s been perfecting for years.
Aleph is the name of one of those artists, someone she’s collaborated with and made music with in the past. They’re not a small producer either, with their most popular song on Spotify having over a million plays.
“Bungie is, of course, not obligated to hire me when making a game that draws overwhelmingly from the same design language I have refined for the last decade, but clearly my work was good enough to pillage for ideas and plaster all over their game without pay or attribution,” Antireal said in a follow-up post, claiming that she doesn’t have the resources to sue them even if she wanted to.
“In 10 years I have never made a consistent income from this work and I am tired of designers from huge companies moodboarding and parasitising my designs while I struggle to make a living.”
Antireal posted another comparison image, one that showed designs that weren’t exact copies but were very similar thematically.
Bungie has yet to respond to these allegations.
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