Marathon is still set for a FY 2025 release despite plagiarism claims. Read on to learn more about the game’s plagiarism issue and what Sony executives learned from the Concord flop.
Marathon Will Release on Sony’s FY 2025
Coming on September 23 Despite Plagiarism Claims
Marathon is still set to release in Sony’s fiscal year 2025 despite the continued issues the game is facing regarding plagiarism. During Sony’s Game & Network Services Segment on June 13, the presentation highlighted the studio’s live service title release dates, which indicated Marathon coming in FY 2025.
The slideshow noted that the focus for FY 2025 is to have "Strong Early Engagement
for Bungie’s Bold and Innovative New Title." The studio has previously confirmed the game’s release date in a gameplay reveal showcase in April, but recent events may hinder their plans from coming to fruition.
Last month, digital artist Fern Hook a.k.a. ANTIREAL posted on BlueSky and stated, "The Marathon alpha released recently and its environments are covered with assets lifted from poster designs I made in 2017." She provided images as proof, which indicate that Bungie took her art not only as inspiration, but seemingly went ahead and took the whole thing, as some graphics even show ANTIREAL’s name blurred out badly.
Bungie immediately responded on Twitter (X) on May 16 and said, "We immediately investigated 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."
It was followed up by a Developer PlayMA stream on May 17, where Marathon Art Director Joseph Cross addressed the issue, and said, "An artist who worked on Marathon took elements from a graphic designer without permission or acknowledgement and placed them on a decal sheet that was then checked in in 2020. It included icons and elements that ended up in our alpha build and there’s absolutely no excuse for this oversight and we are working on our review process to ensure incidents like this don’t happen again."
They also approached ANTIREAL to fix the situation, but the artist did not give out any more comments about the entire debacle. Fans, however, were quick to note that Bungie’s excuse did not line up, as half of the art team follows ANTIREAL on social media, where her art is visible.
ANTIREAL did confirm that Cross and others from Bungie followed her accounts for a few years, but she has never had any communication with them.
Nothing has been followed up since then, and Bungie remains adamant that Marathon’s release date is coming soon. However, Sony’s recent presentation did not specifically pinpoint the game’s launch, only mentioned it coming out in FY 2025.
Sony Learning From the Concord Flop
Sony boasts an incredible lineup of live-service games, such as MLB: The Show, Destiny 2, and Helldivers 2, but admitted the challenges they faced on the release of Concord. In their Game & Network Services Fireside Chat on June 13, SIE Studio Business Group CEO Hermen Hulst shared his thoughts about the company’s status on live-service games and the anticipation towards Marathon’s launch.
To avoid the same situation with Concord, he said that the studio is now emphasizing much more rigorous processes in all aspects of their research and reviews. "For Marathon, it’s our goal to release a very bold, very innovative and deeply engaging title. It’s going to be the first new Bungie title in over a decade, so we are really excited for that release," Hulst explained. Bungie is a game development company known for classic games like the Halo series and the Destiny series, and thus, there is a certain level of expectation to be met.
He mentioned that feedback has been "varied," but remains optimistic about the process. Hulst elaborated, "When launch comes, we’re going to give the title the optimal chance at success. This cycle of test, iterate, test again, it’s such a key component of the live service success, both leading up to launch but also throughout the life of the game."
With just a couple of months away from release, Bungie has a lot on its plate following Sony’s disaster with last year’s Concord. Regardless, the executives remain positive on how the upcoming sci-fi shooter will fare in the highly competitive live-service industry.
Marathon is set to be released on September 23, 2025 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. To stay up to date with the latest information about the game, check out our article below!
Source:
Sony Game & Network Services Segment Slideshow Presentation
ANTIREAL BlueSky post on Marathon Plagiarism
Bungie Twitter (X) post on Marathon Plagiarism
Sony Game & Network Service (G&NS) Segment Fireside Chat
