Bungie's upcoming extraction shooter, Marathon X, faces serious allegations from artist Fern Hook, who claims the game plagiarizes her original artwork. Her accusations surfaced after similar textures were found in the alpha version of the game, raising concerns about the ethics of content creators in the gaming industry. Bungie admitted a former artist included Hook's work without proper credit, prompting a review of its assets. Despite this acknowledgment, it remains uncertain how the company will address the complaints prior to the game's scheduled launch on September 23.
Bungie is of course not obligated to hire me when making a game that draws overwhelmingly from the same design language I have refined for the last decade, but clearly my work was good enough to pillage for ideas and plaster all over their game without pay or attribution.
Bungie's statement claims that a former Bungie artist included Hook's art in a texture sheet without the rest of the art team's knowledge. The company is conducting a thorough review of [its] in-game assets.
Since the game is still in development, it is not clear how or if Bungie will change Marathon to address Hook's complaint, but the developer has until September 23 to do it.
Hook ultimately decided to post about the issue because she doesn't have enough time or money to fly out to the US to pursue an unwinnable court case against Sony.
Collection
[
|
...
]