Last May, Bungie and its newly released title Marathon were embroiled in a plagiarism scandal. Artist 4nt1r34l (real name Fern Hook) shared several examples of his work that was stolen and used in early versions of the new extraction shooter.
Bungie immediately apologized, but as concerns surfaced that the game would fail, the studio's morale plummeted and all marketing was subsequently halted.
But now that the game is out, all's well that ends well. 4nt1r34l is credited on Marathon as a visual design consultant.
Plagiarized artist appears in marathon credits with happy ending
Ehud Kurzweil discovered the appearance of 4nt1r34l in Marathon's credits and shared it with Bluesky. Their names appear among all the other artists in the game, with Hook serving as the sole visual design consultant.
Hook's work was created in 2017, and was added to the Marathon alpha test in 2025. Although she previously stated that she “does not have the resources or energy to pursue this legally,” Bungie said it had reached out to Hook and that “the artist is committed to doing the right thing.” With these credit inclusions and fair compensation, Bungie will stay true to its promises.
In general, credits for games tend to be controversial, and developers are regularly left out for a variety of reasons. Last year, Battlefield 6 failed to deliver credits before the studio that started work on the game closed, and Mario Kart World's credits left out Mario's creator Shigeru Miyamoto, causing major confusion for fans.
Obsidian, on the other hand, did exactly what The Outer World 2's credits say, including a moth named Wolverine that's part of a very specific, and now very funny, inside joke.
- released
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March 5, 2026
- ESRB
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Teen/Animation Blood, Language, Violence, In-Game Purchases, User Interaction
- multiplayer
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Online multiplayer, online co-op
