Bungie’s embattled extraction shooter Marathon settles art-theft issue

Michael Hassall Published December 2, 2025

An artist whose art was plagiarized for use in Bungie’s upcoming game Marathon has announced that the issue has been resolved. The artist, 4nt1r34l, also known as fern, revealed in May of 2025 that elements from the alpha version of its game were lifted wholesale from posters designed by the artist in 2017.

After a public admission shortly after, and investigations point to the fact that large swathes of Marathon’s visual design seem to have been plagiarized, borrowed, or heavily inspired, 4nt1r34l now states that things have resolved with Bungie and Sony Interactive Entertainment to her “satisfaction.”

Image Credit: Bungie

Artist who accused Bungie of stealing Marathon’s art says issue resolved

After the plagiarism issue game to light in May, it emerged that Joseph Cross, Bungie’s franchise art director on Marathon, as well as other prominent members of the art team, followed the artist on Twitter/X. A statement by Bungie admitted that the designs had been plagiarized, stating:

“[we] confirmed that a former Bungie artist included these in a texture sheet that was ultimately used in-game.”

Furthermore, Bungie reportedly reached out to the artist to resolve the issue.

“We have reached out to 4nt1r34l to discuss this issue and are committed to do right by the artist.”

Today, over six months later, 4nt1r34l confirmed the issue was resolved.

“The Marathon art issue has been resolved with Bungie and Sony Interactive Entertainment to my satisfaction.”

However, after the controversy and issues that have plagued Marathon’s development, a potential settlement, details of which were not disclosed, this seems like little solace.

Marathon has been in development since 2018. The closed alpha’s release earlier this year didn’t ‘wow’ those who played it, and given it must now compete with other, far more tenured extraction shooters, such as ARC Raiders and Escape from Tarkov, on release, we’d wouldn’t be optimistic for Bungie’s next big project.

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Featured Image Credit: Bungie.