Artist Accuses Playstation Game of Lifting Her Work; Studio Admits to ‘Oversight’

The Washington Post

14:49 JST, May 17, 2025

Fern Hook, a 30-year-old independent artist in Scotland, noticed something familiar about “Marathon,” the upcoming video game by Bungie, the studio that created the Halo series and is now owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment.

“Marathon,” she said, is “covered with assets lifted from poster designs I made in 2017,” all in the alpha version of the game, which allowed the general public to play an early version of the multiplayer shooter. She became suspicious when the game was announced in a 2023 trailer, but nothing appeared to her to be derivative at first.

In mid-April, content creators began publishing early videos of “Marathon” gameplay. She said she “very quickly” began to spot her work. Hook’s futuristic iconography and font designs are posted on social media sites like Tumblr and X as far back as 2017, and similar features are seen all over the environment and the objects within “Marathon,” she said, pointing out the similarities through her social media on Thursday.

“It was kind of vindicating to see direct plagiarism because it meant I wasn’t crazy for feeling so uncomfortable with the overall direction,” Hook told The Washington Post. “I kept quiet about it because I was advised to seek legal action, but … I don’t have enough time or money to fly out to the U.S. to pursue an unwinnable court case against Sony.”

When The Post contacted Sony about the allegations, a spokesperson pointed to Bungie’s statement on social media.

The “Marathon” developer team said on X that it was looking into “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.”

“The issue was unknown by our existing art team, and we are still reviewing how this oversight occurred,” the studio posted on X, adding that it had contacted Hook to discuss the issue and was “committed to do right by the artist.”

The studio said it is conducting a review of the game’s artwork, specifically the images made by the former artist, and implementing “stricter checks to document all artist contributions.”

The allegations could be particularly damaging for Bungie and “Marathon,” which has struggled to gain positive press during a financially challenging era for the studio. “Marathon” is a classic 1990s computer shooter with a harrowing science-fiction narrative. The reboot, expected to be released in September, throws that out to instead focus on an always-online, multiplayer-only competitive shooting game.

The most widely acclaimed aspect of the new game was its art design, which goes for bold colors and a 1990s futurism vibe. The art style is not original, especially in games, with PlayStation’s Wipeout series being an early adopter. But the clean, shiny aesthetic is rare in a modern video games industry typically obsessed with gritty realism.

This is not the first time Bungie has been accused of using the work of an independent artist. In 2024, a fan made art of a toy gun designed in the style of Bungie’s earlier game “Destiny 2,” which was then used as a model for a game-themed Nerf gun. Bungie later said it would credit and compensate the artist.

Hook said this is also not the first time she has seen her work lifted, and she has made posts over the years alleging other organizations tracing and lifting her work. She said she relies on donations for her various online projects, and this recent incident has seen hundreds of people donating money in support.

Hook also composes drum and bass music and sound design for games under the name N2, and produces freelance art work under the name ANTIREAL. She co-runs a design and software consultancy firm called Superstructure as well.

“I’d kind of had to learn to shut up about these cases because they’ve happened so constantly over the past 10 years,” she said. “It was tiring to be viewed as ‘someone who complains’ more than as an artist. But the response this time has been overwhelmingly understanding and I’m extremely thankful for the support.”