Bungie‘s morale is reportedly still very low, so it will be difficult to create a successful game…

We recently reported that Sony‘s studio was once again involved in stolen artwork. The game began to take shape in 2018, and the artist they stole from (Antireal) had published some of their artwork back in 2017. Bungie blamed a former employee, but the media picked it up—and so did we. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Lately, Marathon has been in rough shape: the gameplay showcase and closed alpha both received lukewarm reactions at best, and Bungie staff looked visibly uncomfortable during Friday’s livestream.

Paul Tassi from Forbes spoke to several current and former employees, and the outlook wasn’t good. The official explanation for the art theft—that a former staff member took the work in 2020—matches what’s being said internally at Bungie. Sony and Bungie’s legal teams are investigating the situation, and we’re unlikely to hear more for now. It’s unclear how long the asset audit will take or whether additional plagiarized materials will be found. The process is extensive enough that Bungie didn’t show a single frame of gameplay in their latest broadcast.

Morale across all departments is at rock bottom, and the atmosphere has never been worse. Everyone is worried about what happens to Bungie if Marathon crashes like Concord did last year. They simply can’t afford that. Internally, there haven’t even been jokes or vague comments about delaying the September release. Still, it’s entirely possible—if not likely—that those discussions are taking place behind closed doors between Sony and Bungie leadership. It’s unclear how they plan to launch in just a few months in what has now become an actively hostile environment, or how they expect to turn things around. There were already some changes to future plans before the plagiarism scandal, mainly in response to the gameplay footage and the feedback from the closed alpha.

Earlier this month, Bungie pulled back from the main Marathon marketing campaign, which was supposed to launch in June with a new trailer and pre-orders. The entire campaign now needs to be restructured. The highly promoted public beta slated for August might be repackaged as a public playtest, though the exact details remain undecided. This would line up with Bungie’s earlier promises of multiple hands-on opportunities before release. Marathon was initially pitched by Bungie’s old leadership, and five years ago developers had already warned them what would and wouldn’t work—warnings that were often ignored. Many had long argued that some kind of PvE mode was essential.

Given all this, it’s safe to say that a September launch is highly unlikely, and even delaying the game by a year may not help much. If the core concept is being questioned by the public, then the game may already be doomed…

Source: Forbes