The Destiny 2 community is filled with content creators and digital artists who make artwork inspired by the title. However, one image added to the latest cutscene in the game was alleged to have been copied from work that was created by one of these digital artists. This incident has sparked a major plagiarism debate among the playerbase.
The entire Destiny 2 community is divided on the issue. While some feel that the creator should have received some credit for their art, others believe it isn’t plagiarism because Bungie came up with the concept, to begin with.
Destiny 2 community debates over alleged plagiarism with respect to artwork used in recent cutscene
While this matter falls in a very grey area, the Destiny 2 community is clearly divided on the issue.
According to many players, Bungie isn’t in the wrong. This is because what the individual drew was something that was apparently already owned by the developer.
Others questioned when the creator made the artwork because Bungie is known for preparing seasonal content, including cutscenes, well in advance.
Furthermore, leaks regarding the cutscene in question surfaced a while back on the internet.
Other individuals highlighted that the artist created the artwork around three years back in 2020 and posted it on their Instagram handle. The creator also mentioned that the post was inspired by Destiny 2 itself.
A few others were not outright accused Bungie of stealing the artwork.
They went on to add that it would’ve been fine had the developer reached out and credited the creator of the artwork via email or even privately. However, their decision to not do so is something downright unacceptable to them.
Others who were in favor of the developers pointed out that Bungie usually credits community artists in its TWID (This Week in Destiny) blog post.
Considering that the weekly reset happens two days prior to the blog post going live, the developer will probably credit the creator in the upcoming post.
If that is the case, it would be tough to understand if Bungie had originally planned to credit the artist or if they did so after facing severe backlash from the Destiny 2 community.
As pointed out by another individual who was participating in this debate on Twitter, it’s unclear who owns the copyright to what. The original Darkness statue design is owned by Bungie, but the composition and style choices in the artwork were based on the artists’ vision.
Given that Bungie is yet to respond to the matter at hand, the TWID this Thursday will be worth watching out for.
Leave a Reply