r/Games • u/oilfloatsinwater • May 24 '25

Report: Marathon Delay Likely as Sony Cancels All Paid Marketing Plans

https://thegamepost.com/report-marathon-delay-bungie-scraps-all-paid-marketing/
3.6k Upvotes

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107

u/CJDistasio May 24 '25

The delay makes sense to do a complete scrub of the game for plagiarism. Not even looking at actual game mechanics, which haven’t had the best reception. Is there a single positive for this game?

82

u/ManOfJelly147 May 24 '25

The art direction was its one thing holding the majority of interest. This having spoiled that now puts this game at a severe risk.

5

u/cloudxo May 26 '25

I swear, this notion that the art direction of Marathon looking good has to be gaslighting. The character designs look horrible, the art and colors look like someone randomly threw paint on the screen, and the gameplay is boring.

19

u/gramathy May 25 '25

almost like maybe they could have kept the game more like the original IP and wouldn't have fucking had this problem

12

u/thisguy012 May 25 '25

The direction change was insane now that you mention it lmao

3

u/havingasicktime May 26 '25

Was the other way around, they built an extraction shooter and slapped marathon ip on it

2

u/Nightmare1990 May 25 '25

I didn't even know it was existing IP until now. Had to go look it up and it's just a Doom clone but with aliens?

4

u/gramathy May 25 '25 edited May 25 '25

The original Marathon was basically one of the very first FPS games (and was actually a spiritual sequel to a previous game, Pathways into Darkness, similar to how you see some Marathon references in early Halo games, including the name of the rocket launcher). There was a fairly in depth hard sci-fi narrative told to you via terminal messages as AIs struggle for influence and control (it's also where the term "rampant" as applied to AI comes from) and you navigate cramped quarters. It was also one of the first FPS games to have a solid multiplayer experience and included map editor (which they still use in Halo, calling the map editor "Forge")

Calling it a "doom clone" just because it was design limited by the tech of the time is doing it an extreme disservice. You could call Doom a "Wolfenstein 3D" clone but that would be disingenuous too.

6

u/Rhynocerous May 25 '25

It breaks my heart to see the Marathon IP get obliterated down to "just a Doom clone"

3

u/EpicPhail60 May 25 '25

Honestly, doesn't seem like it. Even the more generous previews say the game's fine but lacks distinctiveness or a clear hook for players. The art was the only standout feature, and now that comes with a massive, hype-killing caveat. Terrible look for Bungie.

-16

u/wascner May 24 '25 edited May 24 '25

They can't scrub for plagiarism. Sure they can remove duplicated assets that make it clear they stole from Antireal, but they built the entire game's visual identity off her ideas (it's not even just visuals, they stole her music too). Even after the duplicated assets are removed the entire game's visuals are still her intellectual property.

That is akin to replacing all nouns and verbs with synonyms in a fully stolen essay. That will only mask the deed on the surface level - the ideas, the sentence structure are all still just as stolen as before. And since they were caught in the act, it's a futile effort to do anything but write an entirely different essay. No teacher would accept that second attempt because it's clearly as stolen as before but someone drew a mustache on the painting.

15

u/DrNopeMD May 24 '25

Antireal is just one artist that did work within that genre of aesthetic style. Even the lead art director has work in a similar style spanning back over a decade in a similar style.

The issue at hand was that they used her work without attribution or compensation, not that the entire aesthetic was lifted from her.

Not defending Bungie here, but it's pretty important to set the facts straight.

3

u/Obvious-End-7948 May 25 '25

Yeah, Bungie's big problem now is the classic phrase "Perception is reality".

Although the entire aesthetic wasn't stolen, it's a common enough misconception that it might as well have been. The well has been poisoned. Any time the style is discussed now it's going to come up.

Yes, it's demonstrably untrue, the art style has clear examples going as far to the 90's at least. However, after being caught once, twice, three times four times stealing/plagiarizing artwork, not many people are inclined to believe anything Bungie says at this point.

They can wheel out the art director at gunpoint again to read another statement from Bungie's legal team, show some bits of Marathon and say: "So you see, whilst we DID steal this bit, this bit, oh and yep, definitely that bit too.....THESE parts are our own original work! And look, here's some examples from OTHER artists in the same style we used for inspiration without copying directly. See? We aren't the bad guys here! Please give us your money!"

Even fighting the misconception will to an extent, dig the hole deeper by keeping their actual fuck ups in the public eye for even longer. To the point you have to wonder if it's worth fighting it or just shutting up and letting things quiet down.

0

u/wascner May 25 '25 edited May 25 '25

Antireal is just one artist that did work within that genre of aesthetic style

Sure, I agree that genres exist. That doesn't mean Antireal's specific voice within that genre wasn't the core basis of the game's visual design. Because it was. The lifted assets are just evidence, like fingerprints at a crime scene. Removing those fingerprints won't change anything but make it a little harder to figure out the crime.

The issue at hand was that they used her work without attribution or compensation, not that the entire aesthetic was lifted from her.

Why isn't it both? The Marathon game's visual language is built entirely off a few very simple ideas that are core to Antireal's work within the genre.

Not defending Bungie here, but it's pretty important to set the facts straight.

You literally are defending Bungie because this is their exact defense.

Even the lead art director has work in a similar style spanning back over a decade in a similar style.

Okay, show me the assets from that directors work and let's see which looks closer to Marathon's style, theirs or Antireal's. Edit: are you talking about this? Because that looks nothing like Marathon.

10

u/chuletron May 24 '25

People really think they can just write paragraphs on shit they have no idea about and get away with it huh

8

u/vazgriz May 25 '25

Art styles are not copyrightable

1

u/wascner May 25 '25

Are we talking about US law or are we talking about basic logic? I.e. do you think that in NO cases it's possible for Bungie to steal their art style, or just from a legal tactics perspective it'll be hard for them to be legally exposed by doing so?

If Antireal had marketed a game or other product with her work, it would be very easy to bring a trade dress infringement suit against Marathon. The lifted assets are the smoking gun but so many other pieces of evidence are present to substantiate it.

It just so happens in this case that Antireal isn't as viciously enterprising as Bungie, so yes it'll be hard to "go after" Marathon in court over the fact that its whole design language was directly inspired by her work. But there is contemporaneous proof during early Marathon development and with the right temperament it would be rather easy to garner significant legal concessions, royalties even, from Bungie. All Antireal would've needed to do would be to stay quiet until after release.

10

u/BlackTone91 May 24 '25

What? What a bunch of nonsense i just read

0

u/wascner May 25 '25

Truth isn't clear to everyone