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I’ve spoken to some current and former employees about Bungie’s excuse for the art theft, studio morale, the possibility of a delay and some very real changes when it comes to the upcoming presentation and playtesting of the game. Here’s what I’ve learned:
- The public explanation for the art theft, one ex-employee taking things in 2020, is the same one being given internally at Bungie among the rank and file.
- Sony and Bungie legal are now sorting through this and there is unlikely to be any much new information as all of this continues to unfold. It is not clear how long an “audit” will take of the assets to remove or find any more plagiarism, as it’s an expansive enough process to have Bungie not even show any footage at all in its recent livestream.
- Morale is in “free-fall” across all departments, and “the vibes have never been worse.” Everyone has the same concerns about what happens to Bungie as a studio if Marathon bombs, which is something they absolutely cannot afford.
- There are not even hints or jokes about a delay from the September release date internally. With that said, it is entirely possible, if not likely, those conversations are happening privately between higher-up Sony and Bungie leadership. It’s unclear what the plan is to launch the game in a “now actively hostile environment” just a few months from now, or how to turn that around.
Some changes to future plans had been made even before this new plagiarism development. Mainly as a reaction to gameplay footage and now the Closed Alpha.
- At the start of this month Bungie pulled the plug on its main Marathon marketing plan which was going to have a new trailer in June along with the launch of pre-orders. The whole campaign needs to be reworked now.
- A heavily marketed Public Beta in August may be changed into a “roadmap of public playtests” with no actual details set yet. This would align with Bungie’s stated multiple opportunities to play before launch, rather than just the upcoming Beta.
- Marathon was originally pitched by higher-up “good old boy” Bungie leadership and as far back as five years ago devs were telling them what would and wouldn’t work and were often ignored. Many have said previously that it needed to have some sort of PvE component.
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