As the Destiny 2 developer Bungie scrambles to recover its reputation following accusations of "lifting" artwork for Marathon from independent artist Fern Hook, the gaming community is left pondering the future of the studio. Last week's allegations led to an "immediate investigation" by Bungie, with the studio acknowledging that a "former Bungie artist" had indeed used Hook's work without permission or credit.
In a tense livestream on Friday night, Marathon game director Joe Ziegler and art director Joe Cross issued a public apology. The stream notably lacked any Marathon art or footage as the team was "still scrubbing all of our assets to make sure that we are being respectful of the situation."
Since the livestream, the community has been abuzz with speculation about the identity of the "former artist" and the potential ramifications for Marathon. Some players feel "hollow" and are questioning whether the game can still succeed. One player suggested, "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. 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."
Another hypothesized a different outcome, saying, "I think it releases to a very lukewarm reception, similar to the Destiny expansion in July. 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."
The situation is reminiscent of the Concord debacle, where Firewalk Studios' online hero shooter was pulled from sale less than two weeks after launch. Analysts told IGN it likely sold as few as 25,000 units, debuting with a mere 697 peak concurrent players on Steam. This pales in comparison to the 12,786 players of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav dubbed a disappointment.
Marathon - Gameplay Screenshots
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In another thread, a fan referenced Destiny lore YouTuber My Name is Byf's excellent video summary of the situation, expressing concern for the unrelated employees who might be affected if Bungie goes under. The fan hoped for Bungie to make amends with independent artist Antireal, take steps to prevent future incidents, and win back the community's trust.
However, not all potential players are deterred by the controversy. One said, "Ima be real I’m excited for this game. All this art drama is way overblown. 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."
Another replied, drawing a parallel to the music industry, "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. Basically the same principal [sic] 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."
A supporter added, "For any Bungie employees checking in here, please remember that you have millions of fans that want to see Marathon succeed." Forbes reports that the studio is in "chaos," with morale at the studio in "free fall." Marathon is scheduled to launch for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S on September 23.
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