Halo developer Bungie admits using Scottish artist's work without permission in new game

Best known for creating games such as Halo and Destiny, Bungie - which was acquired by Sony in 2022 - has been accused by independent artist Fern Hook of using a number of assets from posters she designed in new first-person shooter, Marathon without permission.

Posting as 4nt1r34l on X, Hook said that the closed alpha test of Marathon was “covered” in her work.

She wrote: “The Marathon alpha released recently and its environments are covered with assets lifted from poster designs I made in 2017.”

She continued: “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.”

After videos of the alpha version of Marathon began appearing online, the Scottish artist took to X to point out the similarities with her work.

She added: “I don't have the resources nor the energy to spare to pursue this legally but 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.

“In 10 years I have never made a consistent income from this work and I am tired of designers from huge companies moodboarding and parasitising my designs while I struggle to make a living.”

In response, the Marathon development team confirmed that the issue is now being investigated, adding that they have reached out to Hook and are “committed to do right by the artist”.

On X, they wrote: “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.

“This issue was unknown by our existing art team, and we are still reviewing how this oversight occurred.”

This is not the first time that Bungie have been accused of art theft within their games, with a piece of fan made art used as an official Destiny 2 collectable as well as unofficial art being used within trailers for the same game.