Marathon plagiarism controversy explained: The full story

Riccardo Lichene
Aleksha McLoughlin
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A modern gaming setup with a central monitor displaying gameplay footage from Bungie’s Marathon, surrounded by fan art and posters
Image credit: Steam / Bungie

TL;DR 

  • Artist ANTIREAL claimed that Bungie had stolen her designs and used assets during Marathon’s alpha phase of the game. 
  • Bungie responded to the claims on social media, stating that the “texture sheet” was used in the game. 
  • Joe Cross, Marathon’s Art Director, admitted that “an artist who worked on Marathon took elements from a graphic designer without permission or acknowledgement”. 
  • It’s not the first time Bungie has been at the heart of a similar controversy, as situations have happened around the studio’s other game, Destiny 2. 
  • The state of Marathon remains uncertain ahead of the game’s September 23, 2025, release date. 

Bungie’s Marathon cannot catch a break: after an ill-received gameplay reveal and an alpha period that didn’t go as expected, Bungie’s hero-based extraction shooter is at the centre of an asset and art theft that could jeopardise its future.

The Marathon controversy began when the digital artist Fern Hook, who goes by the pseudonym ANTIREAL, posted images on Bluesky that indicated that some game logos and decals were ripped straight out of poster designs she made in 2017.

Comparison of in-game assets from Bungie's Marathon alpha with a 2017 design by artist ANTIREAL, highlighting the reused 'ALEPH dark-space haulage logistics' graphic and its identical layout and typography.
Image credit: ANTIREAL / Bungie

“The Marathon alpha released recently and its environments are covered with assets lifted from poster designs I made in 2017”, she wrote. “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”.

Collage comparing ANTIREAL’s 2017 graphic design work with in-game assets from Bungie’s Marathon alpha, showing direct visual matches in icons, arrows, logos, and layout elements, including one labeled “literally my logo.”
Image credit: ANTIREAL / Bungie

The artist provided several examples claiming that it wasn’t just a case of simple inspiration: not only is the case made that letterings and logos seem one-to-one with those of ANTIREAL, but in some cases, her name appears included in some graphics in a badly blurred-out version. 

Bungie responded shortly after through the X account of the Marathon Design Team, writing: “We […] confirmed that a former Bungie artist included these in a texture sheet that was ultimately used in-game”. This supposedly happened in 2018 in the earliest phases of development.

The following day, a twice-delayed PlayMA with Marathon’s Game Director Joe Ziegler took place in which the game’s Art director, Joseph Cross, said that: 

“An artist who worked on Marathon took elements from a graphic designer without permission or acknowledgement and placed them on a decal sheet that was then checked in in 2020. It included icons and elements that ended up in our alpha build and there’s absolutely no excuse for this oversight and we are working on our review process to ensure incidents like this don’t happen again. We’ve reached out to ANTIREAL and followed up to ensure we’re doing right by this artist and we’re committed to removing anything that is questionably or inappropriately sourced”.

The artist did not release any comments after the company’s message; she only thanked her supporters who, after the controversy, followed her en masse and donated to her Ko-fi profile. The “former Bungie artist” justification, however, did not convince the majority of the community as it was very quickly pointed out that half of the art department leadership follows ANTIREAL on social media and that her profile looks like a concept art sheet for the game because of how much inspiration is derived from it.

Moreover, Bungie has already found itself in a similar situation several times. In 2021, Mal E’s fanart ended up without permission in an expansion trailer, then, in 2023 when another piece of Destiny fanart was used for a cutscene, and then again when a Nerf version of the game’s revolver Ace of Spades had a slew of details and weathering patterns bearing a striking similarity to fan art

All these cases, however, involved external vendors (for the cutscenes) and external partners (Nerf): the Marathon art theft happened all in-house. The former Halo makers have also been on the receiving end of art theft when the Warframe clone The First Descendant ripped many ability and power icons directly from Destiny. 

Visual comparison between a 2015 fan-made gun design and the official 2024 Destiny Nerf blaster, highlighting at least 11 nearly identical design elements including color stripes, patterns, icons, and structural details.
Image credit: Bungie / Nerf / Tofu_Rabbit

The consequences of this scandal are multifaceted and very problematic for the company. Paul Tassi, a known Bungie insider and Forbes industry reporter, contacted someone inside Bungie to get some answers, and the situation inside the company seems dire. To begin with, an internal audit by Sony and Bungie’s legal team is ongoing to review the game assets, a serious and “expansive enough process to prevent the company from showing any footage in its most recent livestream,” the source said.

As a result, a new trailer that was supposed to go live in June, along with preorders, is being postponed, and morale is in “free fall,” as every studio employee is aware of the consequences of this game failing: the potential loss of independence in Bungie and a further absorption into Sony.

The last thing of note that the source reported is that the game is in a “now actively hostile environment”  and that there could be talks among higher-ups regarding a delay from the set Marathon release date of September 23, 2025. Among those who are still interested in the game and passionate about it, a delay is now a very desirable outcome as it would give the game some time to recover from its now tarnished esthetic, the thing even the harshest critics agreed was what set it apart in a genre, the extraction shooters, that is getting increasingly crowded.

Side-by-side comparison showing reused icon patterns from ANTIREAL’s 2016 artwork in Bungie’s Marathon press kit and in-game footage, highlighting near-identical symbol grids and layouts.
Image credit: Bungie / ANTIREAL

What awaits Bungie’s troubled project is uncertain. Internal sources told Tassi that the promotional open beta scheduled for August is being transformed into a roadmap of public playtests. It’s not clear, however, if a delay, a rework or even 12 more months of development time can get Marathon not only in shape but in the good graces of its audience.

Conclusion 

The state of Bungie’s Marathon game now seems uncertain, given the plagiarism claims and recent reports of team morale in “free fall”. The company admitted to stealing assets from ANTIREAL, with the blame being shifted to an ex-employee who had lifted the graphics without “permission or acknowledgement”. It’s far from a good look for the upcoming live service extraction shooter game; now, it remains to be seen how things will change as we near the Marathon release date, and whether this means the title will be further delayed. 

FAQs 

Is Bungie still making Marathon? 

Yes, Bungie is still making Marathon, with the release date scheduled for September 23, 2025. 

Is Marathon a prequel to Halo? 

While Marathon and Halo are not directly related, the latter series can be considered a spiritual successor.

References

  1. https://bsky.app/profile/antire.al/post/3lpa4gamtzs2l (Bsky)
  2. https://x.com/MarathonDevTeam/status/1923217324384903262 (X)
  3. https://x.com/4nt1r34l/status/1923176362359103900 (X)
  4. https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2025/05/17/new-marathon-info-bungie-morale-launch-worries-and-changing-plans/ (Forbes)
  5. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/production/report-bungie-morale-in-free-fall-ahead-of-make-or-break-marathon-launch (Game Developer)
Having worked with Esports Insider since 2021, Riccardo has always been interested in the business side of esports. Attending events is a big part of what he enjoys when covering competitive gaming. Moreover, he loves watching competitive Age of Empires and playing shooters, particularly Overwatch.