Bungie has issued an official statement, they are throwing an artist under the bus and pledging to make it right with the original artist.
This is a developing story.
Why did they have to copy anything?!
BUNGIE LITERALLY ALREADY MADE MARATHON
This new game has essentially no relation besides name and logo to the old Marathon games. Sadly, because the old ones were the shit.
It’s okay, ‘the shit’ is a weird phrase anyway. And as a Marathon trilogy connoisseur, you’re clearly alright.
Calling this a Marathon game makes no sense, and I don’t just mean aesthetically. The business case can’t possibly be there, either.
Anyone who has a nostalgic attachment to Marathon (👋) won’t be interested in this new game, and anyone interested in this new game probably doesn’t care about the name “Marathon.”
On top of that, there’s the fact that Marathon kind of looked like Halo. When Bungie made Halo, they were clearly taking after their own art style from their previous games. Which means Bungie could have announced that they’re making a singleplayer first person shooter that kind of looks like Halo. Everyone would have lost their minds. Instead, they announced yet another live service game, and no one is interested.
It’s hilariously awful because, as a fan of the original Marathon trilogy, the aesthetic of the new game is the only thing that appealed to me; and it was stolen.
I have no interest in an extraction shooter. You can make an extraction shooter if you want, but you gotta make something that players can get emotionally invested in first. Original Marathon players won’t recognize this and new players won’t care so what was the fucking point of any of this, I’m going crazy. This industry has lost all direction
They did steal artwork, but the whole aesthetic wasn’t stolen… the stuff they stole is a very small part of the game (I’m pretty sure, haven’t and won’t play it). I’m in no way defending them, but saying the whole aesthetic was stolen just because they used some text and icons from someone istället just dumb.
I was hoping it was gonna be a clever, fun story shooter like the original. But it just sounds like a reskinned Helldivers with no connection to the original besides the name.
Luckily classic Marathon is available on Steam for free.
OK, criticism is fine, but reskined Helldivers? It’s nothing like Helldivers. It’s an extraction shooter, with a focus on PvP.
I guess Helldivers is a shooter where you extract, but it isn’t an extraction shooter. Extraction shooters are like Escape from Tarkov, Gray Zone, and the upcoming ARC Raiders. They’re about entering a game with items, collecting loot, and leaving. If you die you lose everything you brought. Nothing like Helldivers.
I’m just spitballing, but the ip owner needs to do something with the ip so they can keep it? IIRC similar things have been mentioned here and there when some long forgotten ip suddenly gets a new loweffort installment.
So, could be that they were making the extraction shooty anyway, so they slapped Marathon on it “just to refresh the timer”? I dunno if that’s how it works, not a lawyer.
I don’t think so, because If I remember correctly:
When Bungie was bought by Sony, they specifically included in the contract that they get to make a Marathon game if Destiny 2 reaches certain goals. So they aimed for a marathon game for a long time and specifically included that in the negotiations. Beats me why they would do such a poor multiplayer take on the SINGLEPLAYER franchise that is fondly remembered by fans.
They just trained their employees using other people’s copyrighted works. What’s the problem?
The implication that generative AI would spit out pixel-for-pixel copies from its training data is flat out wrong. Even generative AI would have made more original assets than what Bungie put in Marathon. The worst part is that this is like the 4th time they’ve been caught doing this.
Being inspired by an art style and using that style is fine, and completely normal. Thats how art works. But copying and pasting 1 for 1 is not fine.
I agree but it can get pretty close. Try asking gpt-4o to generate a realistic picture of an adventure who wears a hat and wields a whip to find lost treasure. It returns basically a picture of Harrison Ford
The lead art director of marathon has followed her since before the game began development and he still stole her shit wholesale. Disgusting.
Bungie had similar problems with Destiny 2, if I remember correctly.
Bungie commented on the current issue an hour ago.
Love the response. Very CYA and they’re called out on it by multiple people:
hi, tell legal to reply to my email from months ago.
i simply can’t believe you’re thanking anyone “for bringing this to our attention” just because it went viral.
what about all the times i’ve directly contacted you privately about using my work? why should i have to hurt your brand to be heard?
So, we had some unknown outsource companies at fault for plagiarizing previously and now unknown former empleyee? How convenient! Surely the fact that art director and other marathon artists follow her means nothing.
I really wish i could buy that this was actually just an overeager artist who got laid off to pay for pete parsons’ 80th classic car but not only is this the 4th time this has happened, joseph cross was following and clearly aware of antireal. yall knew and fully intended on getting away with it
Honestly, at this point the company should be dismantled and the leadership thrown in prison. These corporate edgelords wont learn. They will just overstep, inch by inch and the courts will understate their deeds over and over until there is only one company that rules the world and sell you your fucking liver by the minute.
Dismantle this pile of shit.
So approx 850 people working at the studio should lose their livelihood because a few shitty leads and artists plagiarized?
🎶 Oops I did it again! 🎶
🎶 I stole your art, added it to my game, ooh baby 🎶
