Bungie apologizes for failing to compensate copied Destiny 2 art for over a year

A Destiny 2 fan whose work wound up being used in-game still hasn’t been compensated, despite Bungie promising to make good on the snafu over a year ago.

In 2023, X/Twitter user Julian Faylona claimed that the studio “took inspiration” from their fan art for a lore-heavy cutscene involving Destiny’s big bad, The Witness. “Certainly took me by surprise when I watched the cutscene,” they said at the time.

Following the post, Bungie acknowledged the obvious similarities, attributing the oversight to “an external vendor” who “mistakenly” used Faylona’s original under the assumption that it was “official Bungie art.”

“We have reached out to the artist to apologize for the mix-up and to credit and compensate them for their awesome work,” the developer continued.

Over a year later, Faylona stated they were “still waiting for that compensation” and hadn’t “heard a word since.” Cozmo, Bungie’s principal community manager, subsequently reached out following Faylona’s update to apologize again. “Hey sorry this got missed, I shot you an email. Hit me back there or DM here and we will track this down for you,” he replied.

Coincidentally, the above comes just days after claims made by another individual that art they had created based on Destiny 2’s Ace of Spades Exotic hand cannon had been lifted for an official NERF gun design.

“We are currently investigating internally and with our partner,” Bungie said on September 11, subsequently adding on September 13 that it was “currently in contact with the artist” to ensure they were compensated and credited for their “incredible artwork.” No further details were provided.

The third installment of Destiny 2’s Episode: Echoes went live on August 27, adding a new Exotic mission and loot to earn. Following the addition of two more Episodes, Revenant and Heresy, Bungie intends to shake up how it approaches content with Frontiers in the latter half of 2025.