In May last year, Bungie and its newly released title, Marathon, became embroiled in a plagiarism scandal. Artist 4nt1r34l, real name Fern Hook, shared several examples of her work that had been stolen and used in an early version of the new extraction shooter.
Bungie immediately issued an apology, but morale at the studio took a nosedive as fears that the game would fail surfaced, and all marketing was subsequently pulled.
It seems, though, that now that the game has been released, all is well that ends well, with 4nt1r34l appearing as a visual design consultant in Marathon’s credits.
Plagiarized Artist Gets A Happy Ending, Appearing In Marathon’s Credits
Ehud Kurzweil spotted 4nt1r34l’s appearance in Marathon’s credits and shared it on Bluesky. Their name appears amongst all the game’s other artists, with Hook serving as its only visual design consultant.
Hook’s work was created in 2017, before being added to a 2025 Marathon alpha test. While she had previously stated that she neither had the “resources nor the energy to spare to pursue this legally,” Bungie revealed that it had reached out to Hook, and it was “committed to do right by the artist.” This inclusion in the credits, and hopefully some fair remuneration, is Bungie staying true to its word.
Typically, a game’s credits tend to be a bit of a bone of contention, with developers regularly left out for a variety of reasons. Last year, Battlefield 6 failed to credit a studio that had started work on the game before closing down, and Mario Kart World’s credits excluded Mario’s creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, much to the confusion of fans.
Obsidian, on the other hand, got things exactly right with The Outer World 2’s credits, including a moth called Wolverine in its credits, which was part of a very specific, now very funny inside joke.
- Released
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March 5, 2026
- ESRB
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Teen / Animated Blood, Language, Violence, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
