Destiny 2 “resolves” complaint after artist accuses Bungie of plagiarism

Bungie has “resolved” a plagiarism accusation after an artist accused the studio of lifting their alternative design of an “iconic” Destiny 2 weapon.

Earlier this week, Bungie revealed a physical Nerf LMTD blaster based upon Cayde-6’s hand cannon, Ace of Spades.

Shortly after the blaster was revealed, artist Tofu_Rabbit called out the developer on Twitter/X, stating the Nerf design was not merely “similar” to a design they did back in 2015, but essentially a carbon copy, down to the “same brush strokes and scratches/smudges”.

The artist said that seeing their work lifted without acknowledgment was a “punch in the gut” as they’d been “playing this game for a decade”, but did acknowledge this was likely “contracted people lifting some obscure work”.

Bungie dropped a statement shortly thereafter, saying it was “currently investigating internally and with our partner. We are in contact with the artist and will share more on what next steps we are taking once we have gathered more information.”

While there’s been nothing further from Bungie about the issue, earlier today (13th September), Tofu_Rabbit updated their thread to confirm that the issue has now been resolved, although they stopped short of confirming any of the details or if compensation was offered.

“Just wanted to give one last final update, the situation with Bungie is resolved!” they announced.

“[Bungie has] been nothing but nice and professional with me and I am very grateful.”

A month after Bungie acknowledged player “uncertainty surrounding the future of Destiny” following mass layoffs at the studio, the developer has announced “major changes for the future” of its live-service shooter, which will now receive multiple paid expansions a year.

More specifically, Destiny 2’s overhauled release model, announced to coincide with the series’ tenth anniversary, will see two “medium-sized” paid expansions released annually, alongside four “major” free content updates. All this will form a “new multi-year saga” (the first since Destiny 2’s Light and Darkness saga concluded with its The Final Shape expansion earlier this year) promising new characters, facts, twists, and more.