Developer Bungie has confirmed that some assets in the upcoming Marathon were stolen from another artist. 

In a post on its internal Discord, the company said that it is conducting a "thorough review" of its in-game art to ensure that there was no other plagarisim. This follows artist Fern "4nt1r34l" Hook, who took to Twitter with comparison images showing that Marathon featured poster assets that she had designed back in 2017. 

“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," Hook wrote. "But clearly my work was good enough to pillage for ideas and plaster all over their game without pay or attribution.”

Responding to this criticism, Bungie said that the person responsible no longer works at the company. 

“We immediately investigated a concern regarding unauthorised 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 developer wrote on its Discord. 

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

“We take matters like this very seriously. We have reached out to 4nt1r34l to discuss this issue and are committed to do right by the artist. As a matter of policy, we do not use the work of artists without their permission.

“To prevent similar issues in the future, we are conducting a thorough review of our in-game assets, specifically those done by the former Bungie artist, and implementing stricter checks to document all artist contributions. We value the creativity and dedication of all artists who contribute to our games, and we are committed to doing right by them. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.”