Bungie admits Marathon art was “stolen” by former employee

An artist who called out Marathon developer Bungie for having “stolen” their work was proven right. The studio has admitted that a former employee used the art without authorization.

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 on May 15, 2025, 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 Fern 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 with Antireal that’s almost a decade old to what was in Bungie’s Alpha test.

Antireal

Another big giveaway here was that one of the assets spotted multiple times in Marathon’s Alpha says, “Aleph.”

Aleph is the name of a music artist, someone Fern collaborated with in the past. They’re not a small producer either, with their most popular song on Spotify having over a million plays.

Antireal

“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.”

Fern posted another comparison image, one that showed designs that weren’t exact copies but were very similar thematically.

Bungie admits artwork was stolen for Marathon

Hours after the accusations caught traction across social media, Bungie addressed the concern online.

“We immediately investigated a concern regarding unauthorized use of artist decals in Marathon and confirmed that a former Bungie artist included these in a texture sheet that was ultimately used in-game.

“This issue was unknown by our existing art team,” Bungie continued in its response. “We have reached out to [Antireal] to discuss this issue and are committed to do right by the artist.”

This issue was unknown by our existing art team, and we are still reviewing how this oversight occurred.
We take matters like this very seriously. We have reached out to @4nt1r34l to discuss this issue and are committed to do right by the artist.

— MarathonDevTeam (@MarathonDevTeam) May 16, 2025

Given this isn’t the first time Bungie has come under fire for being accused of taking artwork without permission, the studio has now vowed to change its internal processes in order to avoid future mishaps.