Destiny 2 releases a new trailer, but one alien in it is not official. Bungie uses fan art – what do artists and the studio say about the situation?
On September 24, the official Twitter account of Destiny 2 released a new video to hype the Guardians for the upcoming “Witch Queen” expansion. In the clip, you see Ikora staring at walls full of photos, sticky notes, and even red threads, trying to make sense of the next threat like in every second detective movie.
It’s about Hive Gods and betrayal. You see the bizarre aliens that the Guardians have to deal with. But one of these aliens is not the official alien. It appears that fan art has clearly snuck into the trailer. The creator of the fake recognizes his work and speaks up.
This is the fake alien:
- What is Ares to the Greeks is “Xivu Arath” – the goddess of war for the Hive in Destiny.
- So far, players have not seen this alien themselves.
- There are only a few pieces of concept art, even though the characters play an increasingly important role in the story.
That there are so few images of it is now coming back to Bungie: At second 42 in the trailer, two drawings of Xivu Arath can be seen on the left. These are fan art, not official images from Bungie.
As the Guardians analyze every clue and scrap from Destiny 2, it quickly became clear that Bungie made a blunder. What does the creator of the fan art say about this?
“I make no claim of theft”
This is how the creator responds: Forbes asked the original artist, relay314/Mal E, about it. Mal E confirmed there that Bungie did not ask for permission or announce the usage otherwise (via Forbes).
The creator of the fan art also responded that no foul play was intended, it was 100% a crazy mistake. Furthermore, it is stated that no claim of theft is made and that they were inspired by Bungie’s art design.
The almost identical images of Xivu Arath were posted by Mal E back in October 2020:
The whole situation escalated over the weekend, and players expressed everything from “embarrassing thing Bungie” to severe accusations.
The YouTube channel “Hoen Law,” which deals with the legal aspects of gaming, is now using the Bungie blunder as a lesson in their latest tutorial video. It addresses copyright infringement and the rights of fan art from a lawyer’s perspective (via YouTube).
Bungie admits “confusion” – asks for permission afterwards
This is what the Destiny developer says: Bungie’s community manager Cozmo now steps in for the Destiny developer on the evening of September 27.
The studio and the creator of the fan art have since been in contact – there was a “confusion” on Bungie’s part, according to the community manager:
During the creation of this post [the trailer], there was a confusion and [works of] @relay314 were used accidentally. We have reached out to him and received permission to use his work, and we now give him recognition for this great community depiction of Xivu Arath.
Cozmo via Twitter
Mal E now jokes proudly that he made it into an official Destiny 2 trailer (via Twitter). So there is no bad blood between the artist and the Destiny developers, and the confusion has been confirmed.
What do you think of the incident? Can you understand that one would assume official artworks from such talented artists, and are you not angry with Bungie, just as the creator is not? Or do you find the situation embarrassing?
If you want to know more about the content of the trailer and what to expect in the next expansion of Destiny 2: The 11 most important things you need to know about the “Witch Queen” expansion
