Bungie Rectifies Plagiarism Scandal By Adding Artist Whose Work Was Stolen To Marathon Credits

Bungie Rectifies Plagiarism Scandal By Adding Artist Whose Work Was Stolen To Marathon Credits

From TheGamer (Written by Sam Woods) on | OpenCritic

In May last year, Bungie and its newly released title, Marathon, became embroiled in a plagiarism scandal. Artist 4nt1r34l, real name Fern Hook, shared several examples of her work that had been stolen and used in an early version of the new extraction shooter.

Bungie immediately issued an apology, but morale at the studio took a nosedive as fears that the game would fail surfaced, and all marketing was subsequently pulled.

It seems, though, that now that the game has been released, all is well that ends well, with 4nt1r34l appearing as a visual design consultant in Marathon's credits.

Ehud Kurzweil spotted 4nt1r34l's appearance in Marathon's credits and shared it on Bluesky. Their name appears amongst all the game's other artists, with Hook serving as its only visual design consultant.

Hook's work was created in 2017, before being added to a 2025 Marathon alpha test. While she had previously stated that she neither had the "resources nor the energy to spare to pursue this legally," Bungie revealed that it had reached out to Hook, and it was "committed to do right by the artist." This...