Bungie Faces Existential Crisis After Plagiarism Scandal, Fans Debate Future

As Destiny 2 developer Bungie grapples with the fallout from another accusation of artwork plagiarism in their upcoming game Marathon, the community is left questioning the studio's future. The controversy erupted last week when independent artist Fern Hook accused a "former Bungie artist" of using her work without permission or credit, prompting an immediate investigation from the studio.

In a tense livestream on Friday night, Marathon game director Joe Ziegler and art director Joe Cross issued an apology, but the broadcast notably lacked any Marathon art or footage as the team was "still scrubbing all of our assets to make sure that we are being respectful of the situation."

Since the livestream, the community has been abuzz with speculation. Some are trying to identify the mysterious "former artist," while others express a sense of disillusionment, feeling "hollow" about the situation. There are even concerns about whether Marathon can still succeed, with some predicting dire consequences for Bungie if the game fails.

"The game went from mixed/negative reception to PLAGIARISM_WILL_MAKE_ME_GOD, four months from launch in the eyes of the larger gaming community. If they don't delay it, it's 100% DOA," one player suggested. "If the game does in fact die, we're talking over $100 million+ lost (probably a gross underestimate for a AAA game/studio). So yeah, really bad. Make no mistake, this is an existential struggle for Bungie at this point."

Another player hypothesized, "I think it releases to a very lukewarm reception, similar to the Destiny expansion in July. It will last til January for active updates, put in maintenance mode til about summer 2026, then shut down with Bungie finally absorbed into Sony."

The situation is reminiscent of the Concord debacle, where Firewalk Studios' online hero shooter was pulled from sale just weeks after launch last year. Analysts told IGN that Concord likely sold as few as 25,000 units, debuting to a meager 697 peak concurrent players on Steam. This number pales in comparison to the 12,786 players of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav labeled a disappointment.

Marathon - Gameplay Screenshots

View 14 ImagesIn another thread, a fan reflected on Destiny lore YouTuber My Name is Byf's comprehensive video summary of the situation, expressing concern for the innocent employees who might be affected if Bungie goes under. "I sort of feel ill about the whole situation now... I want to see them make an effort to [independent artist] Antireal. I want to see them take the steps towards making sure this never happens again. I want them to win back whatever they need to make this game special (Goodwill, a delay, anything). I WANT to see the Marathon ship in this artstyle, man."

Not all potential players are deterred by the controversy, however. "Ima be real I’m excited for this game. All this art drama is way overblown," one enthusiast said. "I think from what I’ve gathered in this game I fully anticipate the aliens to inevitably make their way into the game. Other than that I’d like the characters to be customizable but I anticipate any big changes like that to come later. Very hyped for Marathon."

Another commenter replied, drawing a parallel to music, "I can't remember who exactly, but it was a famous musician talking about how he would never copyright others' music because all music eventually comes back to the same source. Basically the same principal every artist has been inspired by some other artists and so on and so forth. Of course, it's not cool to blatantly just copy/paste someone's work, but then again, even the concept of completely original art is debatable. Especially since there are recorded cases of people making basically the same art around the same time as someone else. So yeah, it's pretty overblown."

A message of support came from another fan, adding, "For any Bungie employees checking in here, please remember that you have millions of fans that want to see Marathon succeed." Forbes now reports that the studio is in "chaos," with morale at an all-time low. Marathon is slated to launch for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S on September 23.