Bungie in "chaos" amid Marathon stolen art controversy, report claims

It has been reported that Bungie's morale is in "free-fall" as it attempts to work through a controversy involving stolen artwork being used in its upcoming extraction shooter, Marathon.

The details:

• Last week, it was discovered that several assets found in Marathon's Closed Alpha tests contained designs directly copied from the work of UK-based artist Fern "Antireal" Hook. The artist called out Bungie on X, comparing several textures from Marathon that were directly ripped from her daily poster series dating back to 2017, with one asset still containing the text "Antireal daily series."
• This prompted an apology from the studio, followed by a statement from art director Joseph Cross, who stated that all of the game's assets would be searched thoroughly for any potentially stolen artwork. During Bungie's livestream, the art director claimed that the assets were sourced by a former employee back in 2020, and the developer opted to pull all gameplay from the scheduled showcase.
• As reported by Forbes' Paul Tassi, Bungie employees have privately shared that "the vibes have never been worse" at the studio and that morale is in "free-fall." According to Tassi, employees have stated that Cross's reasoning for the stolen assets is the same as what was given internally, and Sony's legal team is now working with Bungie on the issue.
• While no "hints or jokes" about a potential delay have been made internally, it's possible that it will be pushed back from September as Sony and Bungie consider whether to release the title in a "now actively hostile environment." According to Forbes, Marathon's marketing strategy needs to be reworked, as a new trailer was originally scheduled for next month before being scrapped in early May. It is also possible that its public beta in August may be replaced with multiple playtests instead.

More gaming news:

• Square Enix has released new screenshots of Kingdom Hearts IV, including one that appears to show a playable Mickey Mouse.
• It has been announced that the short-lived anime MMORPG Blue Protocol will be revived globally on PC and mobile later this year.