Bungie: Difference between revisions

}}Founded in 1990 by Alex Seropian, Bungie is a game development studio that has been known to develop games for their popular franchises, such as [[Marathon]], [[Destiny]], and initially Halo. Originally, the company exclusively developed for the [[Mac]] platform, but after being acquired by [[Microsoft]], Bungie was seen developing instead for the [[Xbox]] platform (and 3rd parties such as [[Gearbox Software]] handling ports to Windows), until its departure shortly after [[Halo (game)|Halo]] Reach's release. In January of 2022, the company was yet again bought out, this time by [[Sony]] Interactive Entertainment.<ref>Dring, Christopher (January 31, 2022). "[https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2022-01-31-playstation-bungie-will-considerably-accelerate-our-journey-with-multiplatform-live-service-games PlayStation: Bungie deal is about multiplatform, live-service games]". ''Gamesindustry.biz''. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220131184555/https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2022-01-31-playstation-bungie-will-considerably-accelerate-our-journey-with-multiplatform-live-service-games Archived] from the original on January 31, 2022. Retrieved May 17, 2025</ref>

*User Freedom: Historically would revoke content consumers paid for

*Business Model: Software sales, microtransactions

*Market Competition: [[Microsoft]] ([[Xbox]]), [[Nintendo]], [[Valve]], indie studios

This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the [[:Category:Bungie|Bungie category]].

===Theft of user-generated content===

In May of 2025, The user Antireal posted that Bungie lifted assets from them<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tassi |first=Paul |date=May 16, 2025 |title=Bungie Stealing ‘Marathon’ Art Is Probably The Last Straw |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2025/05/16/bungie-stealing-marathon-art-is-probably-the-last-straw/ |access-date=May 17, 2025 |work=Forbes}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Antireal |date=May 15, 2025 |title=Tweet from Antireal |url=https://x.com/4nt1r34l/status/1923067988871147605 |access-date=May 17, 2025 |website=X (formerly Twitter)}}</ref> for the purposes of creating assets for the studio's latest game, Marathon, after noticing these after the game's closed alpha test. Should this information have come to light months later, consumers who had paid for the game, either as a pre-order or on launch, would have been at risk of having the software they paid for being taken away due to the negligence of Bungie.

Bungie's responses to the situation has merely been to pin the fault on an artist who formerly worked for the company.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Carpenter |first=Lincoln |title=Bungie confirms it stole art once again, will undertake a 'thorough review' of Marathon assets |url=https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/artist-accuses-bungie-of-stealing-her-designs-for-marathons-art-i-am-tired-of-designers-from-huge-companies-moodboarding-and-parasitising-my-designs-while-i-struggle-to-make-a-living/ |access-date=May 17, 2025 |work=PC Gamer}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Marathon Developers |date=May 15, 2025 |title=Tweet from Marathon Dev Team |url=https://x.com/MarathonDevTeam/status/1923217324384903262 |access-date=May 17, 2025 |website=X (formerly Twitter)}}</ref> This statement is problematic, as Bungie's recent history has shown on repeated occasion that they would lift assets created by other artists without credit nor compensation<ref name=":0" /> until after significant consumer outrage.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Chalk |first=Andy |date=Sep 13, 2024 |title=Whoops, they did it again: Bungie admits fan art was used in an official Destiny 2 collectible, says the artist will be 'compensated and credited for their incredible artwork' |url=https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/whoops-they-did-it-again-bungie-admits-fan-art-was-used-in-an-official-destiny-2-collectible-says-the-artist-will-be-compensated-and-credited-for-their-incredible-artwork/ |access-date=May 15, 2025 |work=PC Gamer}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Mint Blitz |date=May 16, 2025 |title=Well It’s Over - Bungie STEALS Content, Marathon Dead. |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxyWfy52L0o |access-date=May 17, 2025 |website=YouTube}}</ref> Additionally, the lead creative director, among other Bungie staff, have reportedly been following the artist as well.<ref name=":0" />

 

This theft of content has gone so far as to lead to a legal case regarding [[Destiny]] 2's Red War and Curse of Osiris expansions.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Ali |first=Zuhaad |date=Mar 24, 2025 |title=Bungie Facing New Claims in Destiny 2 Red War Lawsuit, Writer Alleges Curse of Osiris Expansion Also Stole His Work |url=https://thegamepost.com/bungie-destiny-2-red-war-lawsuit-alleges-curse-of-osiris-expansion/ |access-date=May 17, 2025 |work=The Game Post}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Tassi |first=Paul |date=May 3, 2025 |title=‘Destiny 2’ Content Vaulting Causes More Legal Problems For Bungie |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2025/05/03/destiny-2-content-vaulting-causes-more-legal-problems-for-bungie/ |access-date=May 17, 2025 |work=Forbes}}</ref><!-- When I originally heard the news about Bungie's response in the court case that they entirely deleted the content, which essentially buried evidence, I laughed my ass off. -->

 

Bungie has historically revoked content that users paid for inside [[Destiny]] 2,<ref name=":12">{{Cite news |last=Savage |first=Phil |date=Aug 23, 2020 |title=Here's everything being removed from Destiny 2 at the end of this season—it's a lot |url=https://www.pcgamer.com/heres-everything-being-removed-from-destiny-2-at-the-end-of-this-seasonits-a-lot/ |access-date=Mar 31, 2025 |work=PC Gamer}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Glagowski |first=Peter |date=Jun 9, 2020 |title=Bungie To Remove Four Planets And All But Three Raids From Destiny 2 |url=https://www.thegamer.com/destiny-2-content-removal/ |access-date=Mar 31, 2025 |work=The Gamer}}</ref> effectively being defined as "vaulting" the content by both the company and consumers. Not all of the revoked content was taking a strain on Bungie's servers either, as some content is accessible for users offline.<ref>{{Cite web |last=The_Observer |date=Jun 18, 2021 |title=How could Bungie get away so easily with removing paid content from Destiny 2? |url=https://www.neogaf.com/threads/how-could-bungie-get-away-so-easily-with-removing-paid-content-from-destiny-2.1610927/ |access-date=Mar 31, 2025 |website=NeoGAF}}</ref> There were promises in 2022 that no more content would be revoked,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gach |first=Ethan |date=Aug 23, 2022 |title=Destiny 2 Promises No More Axing Old Parts Of Game, Something That Players Hated |url=https://kotaku.com/destiny-2-lightfall-vaulting-sunset-forsaken-expansion-1849446608 |access-date=Mar 31, 2025 |work=Kotaku}}</ref> however not all of it has returned to users,<ref>{{Cite news |last=GB Times Gaming Team |date=Mar 21, 2025 |title=Why is Bungie Removing Content from Destiny 2? The Content Vault Controversy Explained |url=https://gbtimes.com/gaming/why-is-bungie-removing-content/ |access-date=Mar 31, 2025 |work=GB Times}}</ref> especially as was found by a court case on the matter of content theft, Bungie had entirely deleted the content.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />