AI Summary
5 min readAn artist named Anti Reel posted side-by-side comparisons on Twitter showing that decals used in Bungie's upcoming extraction shooter Marathon were direct copies of her work from 2017 — pixel-for-pixel, not inspired by. The discovery forced Bungie into a damage-control livestream where the art director personally apologized, and it prompted streamer Asmongold to declare the project "100% fucked." The episode traces how a single act of internal plagiarism, combined with a poorly executed developer update, has amplified existing skepticism about Marathon's direction.
The plagiarism and the apology
The controversy centers on a decal sheet — icons and text elements placed on in-game surfaces — that an artist working in early pre-production checked into the build in 2020 without permission or attribution. During the livestream, franchise art director Joe Cross acknowledged the copying directly: "There's absolutely no excuse for this oversight." He outlined immediate steps: reaching out to Anti Reel, auditing all work by the internal artist, scrubbing any questionably sourced decals from the current build, and committing to a broader review process. Cross emphasized that no external partners involved in branding were part of the incident and that "hundreds of artists have worked on this project for years, internally and externally." He also expressed interest in working with An
Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.
Read Full Summary →Free • No credit card required
Never miss an episode of Asmongold TV
Get every new episode summarized in your inbox — free, ~5 minutes to read.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
What you'll learn
- 1 (02:00) **Marathon Art Theft Scandal Revealed** - Asmongold breaks the news that Bungie copied an independent artist's work pixel-for-pixel in Marathon's marketing assets
- 2 (03:19) **Bungie's Official Apology and Response** - The Marathon dev team opens a livestream with franchise art director Joe Cross delivering a prepared statement about the theft
- 3 (07:23) **Alpha Feedback: Survival Economy Was Too Forgiving** - The team discusses how the alpha test revealed players weren't being pushed to use resources wisely
- 4 (12:30) **Environmental Hazards and AI Improvements** - Andrew Witz explains new threats like audio perimeter detection that punish players who sprint everywhere
- 5 (15:49) **Shield Unit Redesign and Combat Depth** - The big shield unit now charges players with a perfectly protected melee attack, requiring different tactical approaches
- 6 (19:14) **Event Pacing and Late-Game Tension** - Lars discusses how tension drops off as player population dwindles, and how they plan to counter that
- 7 (22:39) **Asset Scrubbing Delays Content Showcase** - The team confirms they are delaying planned reveals because they are still scrubbing all assets for stolen material
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
Bungie is 100% F*CKED.. Asmongold show for all of his stream highlights, competitions, reactions & more.
----------
--- Keywords: gaming community, twitch streamer, asmongold, streaming moments, gaming podcast
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
More from this podcast
Asmongold TV →