Bungie faced significant backlash following plagiarism allegations surrounding its upcoming title Marathon, yet proceeded with its scheduled PlayMA stream where developers directly addressed the controversy. This marks the second major copyright incident for the studio, following similar legal challenges regarding Destiny 2 assets in 2024.

The controversy emerged when digital artist Antireal publicly accused Bungie of incorporating her original artwork without authorization. Through social media comparisons, she demonstrated striking similarities between her 2017 portfolio pieces and graffiti textures appearing in Marathon's alpha version. Bungie's development team confirmed a former employee had improperly added these assets to the game's texture library.

During a recent developer stream, Marathon Art Director Joe Cross provided additional context, explaining that during early development phases, a former team member incorporated unlicensed graphic elements from independent creators. These assets—including distinctive icons and typography—were added to decal sheets in 2020 and eventually surfaced in the public alpha build. Cross emphasized there was no justification for this oversight, outlining new verification procedures to prevent recurrence. The studio has initiated contact with affected artists and is conducting a comprehensive audit of all work by the involved former employee, causing temporary delays in planned content reveals.

Cross detailed the studio's corrective measures, including removal or replacement of all improperly sourced materials with original creations. While acknowledging Marathon's diverse visual influences—from Swiss design aesthetics to cyberpunk themes and the original trilogy's legacy—he clarified that external branding partners weren't involved in the infringement. The director concluded with a personal apology to Antireal, reaffirming Bungie's respect for independent creators and commitment to transparent resolution.

In an interview with The Washington Post, artist Antireal (real name Fern) described mixed feelings about the situation. While discovering concrete evidence of plagiarism provided validation for her earlier suspicions about the game's visual direction, she ultimately chose not to pursue legal recourse due to the prohibitive costs and stress of challenging a corporation like Sony. This incident follows previous copyright controversies involving Bungie, highlighting ongoing challenges in asset management for major game studios.