This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.
An artist has come forward accusing Marathon of stealing their work without permission, credit, or compensation, and Bungie has admitted to the plagiarism, blaming an artist no longer with the studio. Marathon is set for release in September, and recently hosted a closed alpha, giving players invited a chance to try the extraction shooter, but it’s now come under fire for plagiarizing specific assets as part of its distinctive art style.
Artist Antireal accused Bungie via X (formerly Twitter) of lifting their poster designs and using them throughout Marathon‘s textures. Antireal’s work is largely in the same vein as Marathon‘s vibrant art style, but certain pieces of their art are ripped wholesale. They specifically highlight a fictional company logo that reads, “ALEPH Dark-space haulage logistics,” and numerous bits of iconography, including a clearly stolen sequence of symbols inside boxes. Antireal airs their frustration, saying in the thread:
“I don’t have the resources nor the energy to spare to pursue this legally but I have lost count of the number of times a major company has deemed it easier to pay a designer to imitate or steal my work than to write me an email.”
The thread has garnered widespread attention – having more than 45 thousand likes at the time of writing – and prompted a response from Bungie itself, which admits to having stolen Antireal’s art. In a separate thread, the MarathonDevTeam account says to have opened an investigation into the “unauthorized use of artist decals.” The results of the internal investigation apparently point to “a former Bungie artist” and was “unknown by [Bungie’s] existing art team.” Following the incident, Bungie has reached out to Antireal to resolve the dispute, and has promised to vet Marathon‘s assets for similar plagiarism.
Sources: Antireal/Twitter, MarathonDevTeam/Twitter
Marathon
- Released
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September 23, 2025
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer
- Franchise
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Marathon