Morale at developer Bungie – the iconic first-person shooter studio behind Destiny and the original Halo games – is reportedly at an all-time low, with some employees unsure about whether their upcoming Marathon reboot can meet its September release date.
In case the scandal hasn’t reached you yet, earlier this week, futuristic indie artist Fern ‘Antireal’ Hook accused the studio of using her 2017 art portfolio as inspiration (to put it mildly) for Marathon, without permission or payment. She also posted side-by-side screenshots of her own art work next to Marathon’s alpha test, with very similar iconography, patterns, fonts, and sometimes even words appearing in both.
Bungie later admitted that a former artist at the studio had mistakenly “included these in a texture sheet that was ultimately used in-game,” and said it was currently investigating “a concern regarding unauthorized use of artist decals.”
A new Forbes report, citing comments from former and current Bungie staff, now gives some insight into what’s happening inside the studio. Morale is said to be in “free fall” and “the vibes have never been worse.”
Higher-ups haven’t said anything about a delay potentially hitting Marathon, but many are uncertain about if the shooter can turn around its controversial perception in time for launch, just a few months away. Game director Joe Ziegler even said the studio was “still scrubbing all of our assets to make sure that we are being respectful of the situation” – which obviously sounds like a pretty hefty undertaking.
For now, Bungie’s legal team and parent company Sony are purportedly also investigating the situation, though the fact the studio neglected to show gameplay footage in this week’s livestream discussing the alpha maybe says enough.
