Earlier this week, Bungie came under fire having been accused of using an independent artist’s work without their permission. Scottish artist Fern Hook, who works under the handle ‘4nt1r34l’, claimed that her assets had been used in the Marathon alpha without her approval.
Bungie have since acknowledged that not only are Hook’s claims accurate, but insisted that they’d “do right” by the artist, though no particulars were shared as to how the dispute would be settled. It’s worth noting that the employee responsible for the plagiarism is no longer at the company.
Joseph Cross, Marathon’s art director, announced that Bungie would be conducting a thorough review of to remove any “inappropriately sourced” art from the game, all the while putting in place safeguards to ensure this kind of event doesn’t happen again.
“Hundreds of artists have worked on this project for years, internally and externally, and we share many influences, including modernism, 2000s style vector art, cyberpunk, and of course the original Marathon trilogy,” he said.
“Our style is a result of all of those inspirations, and it’s worth noting that none of our external partners who have worked on branding or any part of the visual design of the game were designed with this situation.
“I have a huge amount of respect and iration for artists working independently, producing, making a living, doing commercial or fine art. We’ve worked with many of them. It’s one of my favorite parts of the job, to make those connections, create content, and collaborate.
“So to that extent, I want to send my personal apology to 4nt1r34l, whose work was used in this case. I know how unfair this feels, and we’re doing everything we can to make this right. Her work is fantastic, and we clearly share a mutual appreciation for a specific genre of graphic design, and I’m excited to have folded that into our style in general.”
Marathon is launching September 23, 2025 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
