Understanding the Marathon ‘Art Theft’ Controversy

Alright, where do I even start? So, Bungie, right? They’ve been having a not-so-great time lately after dropping Destiny 2’s The Final Shape. Layoffs, angry gamers, and now—art theft? Seriously, it sounds like a bad soap opera, doesn’t it? Anyway, the game Marathon’s been through a carousel of genres. It was a hero shooter once, if you can believe it. Now? It’s all about PvPvE extraction, whatever that means.

Here’s where it gets spicy: An artist, Antireal—I’m still wondering why she picked that name—called out Bungie for copying her work from way back in 2017. She threw it all on Twitter, kinda like airing dirty laundry, pointing out her art all over Marathon’s world. Like, you could almost hear her saying, “Hey, I painted that!”

Bungie said something on social media—of course they did—about some ex-employee sneaking her designs into the game. Yeah, oops. But, you know, I get it. It’s not like anyone there stays on social media and follows all this, except… oops again, some of them actually do follow her. Including Joseph Cross, the art director himself! Makes you scratch your head, doesn’t it?

And Bungie’s not new to this rodeo. Remember those Destiny 2 slip-ups? Like, they borrowed someone’s fan art for Xivu Arath without a thank you, and then there was the Ace of Spades NERF gun kerfuffle. Bungie says they want to make it right with Antireal. But folks are skeptical, like really skeptical. Some think they’ve mastered the art of the non-apology apology, if you catch my drift.

People on Twitter are buzzing, some even ask for the game to be delayed. But who knows if this drama will push the release or just fizzle out? This whole thing feels a bit like watching a train wreck. Do they pull the brakes, or do we just watch it in slow motion? Anyway—no, wait, where was I going with this? Ah, whatever. Fingers crossed something good comes of it. Or not. Whatever.