Bungie is under fire for fan art impersonation in a new Destiny 2 scene

The Destiny 2 developer has been accused of plagiarizing fan art in one of the game’s recently released scenes.

depth seasonThe game’s story is in full swing right now in Destiny 2, with each week revealing new lore and dialogue for players. Earlier this week, Bungie released one of the most important cutscenes in Destiny’s nine years, as part of the season’s ongoing quest.

Destiny 2’s recently released cutscene finally provided answers to questions players have been asking for a long time. However, it seems that Bungie has now found itself caught up in the controversy surrounding this remarkable scene.

Related: Destiny 2 finally addresses the annoying maneuvering bug with a new Armor mod

Controversy broke out when Julian FilonaThe original creator of the fan art expressed their bewilderment on Twitter after discovering their work had been repeated in the new season of Deep’s Cutscene without any kind of credit.

Faylona specifically claimed that Bungie was inspired by his fan art. “I just realized that Bungie took inspiration from my article for this week’s scene. It definitely surprised me when I saw the movie scene.”

Close examination of the two artworks side by side reveals striking similarities, with the main distinction being in the art style used in Destiny 2’s animated scenes, resulting in some differences in shading and lighting.

The artwork in question features a dark, veiled statue with a group of pyramidal ships in the background; The same statue that we saw at the end of the Shadowkeep campaign. You can check out the comparison below.

I just realized that Bungie took inspiration from my article for this week’s scene. It definitely surprised me when I saw the scene.# Destiny 2 #DestinyTheGame # desire pic.twitter.com/aSpZ4SzFL0

– Julian Filona (@elementj21) (@elementj21) June 20, 2023

According to Philonna ArtStation Profile, the same fan art allegedly stolen by Bungie, titled “The Veil of Darkness”, was published in October 2020. This may be an error on Bungie’s part. Bungie has not issued any official response regarding this matter.

This isn’t the only fate-inspired artwork Velona has created. On their ArtStation profile, there is an impressive selection of over seven distinct fan artworks, each showcasing their unique portrayal of some of the key characters in the Destiny universe.

Additionally, this isn’t the first time Bungie has been caught using fan art without permission. In 2021, the developer used fan artwork of Xivu Arath in one of the promotional trailers for The Witch Queen.