Bungie Admits Art Theft in Marathon Game: Art Director Joseph Cross Addresses Plagiarism Controversy

Bungie, the studio behind the upcoming sci-fi shooter Marathon, is in hot water after it was caught using an independent artist’s work without permission.

The issue came to light when digital artist Antireal (also known as Fern or 4nt1r34l) noticed her original designs from 2017 appearing in Marathon’s closed alpha build. On May 15, she posted side-by-side comparisons on social media—and the similarities weren’t subtle. In some images, her actual logo could be seen on in-game structures.

That kicked off a wave of criticism online, prompting Bungie to quickly respond through the official Marathon dev team account:

“We immediately investigated a concern regarding unauthorized use of artist decals in Marathon and confirmed that a former Bungie artist included these in a texture sheet that was ultimately used in-game.”

The situation was addressed more directly during a recent PlayMA developer livestream. Joseph Cross, the Franchise Art Director for Marathon, confirmed that an early team member had pulled Antireal’s graphics without credit or permission during the game’s pre-production phase.

“It came to our attention that an artist who worked on Marathon in the early stages of pre-production took a number of graphic elements from a graphic designer without permission or acknowledgement,” Cross said (thanks, The Game Post).

“There’s absolutely no excuse for this oversight... I want to send my personal apology to ANTIREAL... we're doing everything we can to make this right with her.”

Cross emphasized that Marathon’s visual style is the work of many hands over the years, and is influenced by everything from Swiss typography and 2000s vector art to cyberpunk and the original Marathon trilogy. Still, he made it clear that what happened shouldn't have.

A Pattern, Not a One-Off?

This isn’t the first time Bungie has been caught mishandling fan or independent artwork. Other recent incidents include:

• A Nerf gun design that used fan art without credit

• A cutscene that featured a fan's work—with compensation only coming after the fact

• A Witch Queen trailer that included fan creations

For Antireal, this is part of a bigger, more frustrating trend. “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,” she said in a follow-up. She also pointed out that Cross and “a few others from Bungie” have followed her on social media for years without ever contacting her directly.

Who is Joseph Cross?

Cross has been the Franchise Art Director for Marathon since 2019 and is based in Seattle. Before this, he was a Lead Concept Artist at Bungie, and has worked on Destiny, Dead Space, and even Hollywood films like Dune, Kong: Skull Island, and Ghost in the Shell.

What Happens Now?

Marathon is set to release on September 23, 2025, for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and Windows PC. There’s no word yet on whether this controversy could delay the game or impact public perception in the long run.

Cross outlined some of the steps Bungie is now taking:

• Reached out to Antireal to discuss credit or compensation

• Launched a full audit of all work from the artist involved

• Postponed some content reveals to double-check all assets 

“We’re committed to removing anything that is questionably or inappropriately sourced,” Cross said. “If we locate any other elements, we’ll make sure they’re eliminated or recreated in-house.”

For now, all eyes are on Bungie to see if they’ll follow up this apology with real accountability—or if it’s just another entry in a growing list of missteps.