Mon May 19 22:40:00 UTC 2025: Okay, here’s a news article summarizing the provided text:

**Bungie’s “Marathon” Faces Grim Outlook Amid Plagiarism Scandal and Gameplay Concerns**

**[City, State] –** Bungie’s upcoming extraction shooter, “Marathon,” is facing a barrage of criticism and is likely doomed, according to industry insiders and early alpha testers. The game, intended as a revival of a classic IP and a major project under Sony’s ownership, has been plagued by design flaws, uninspired gameplay, and now a major art plagiarism scandal.

Sources close to the development say that the game’s core concept is flawed, failing to appeal to either casual players new to the extraction shooter genre or hardcore fans of titles like “Escape from Tarkov.” Testers have described the gameplay as a less-polished and less engaging version of existing titles, with an ill-conceived hero system. The recent closed alpha received poor reviews, with player counts and Twitch viewership plummeting rapidly. A competing extraction shooter alpha, ARC Raiders, received significantly better reviews.

Adding fuel to the fire, a recent livestream was overshadowed by the revelation that a former Bungie artist had plagiarized artwork from another artist, ANTIREAL, incorporating stolen assets into the game. Bungie has launched an investigation, but the scandal has severely damaged the game’s reputation and unique art style.

Critics and players alike fear that “Marathon” will not be able to recover from the combination of its design flaws and the negative press surrounding the plagiarism incident. Some even going so far as to rename it ART Raiders in mockery of the scandal. While cancellation of the game is unlikely due to Sony’s investment, a delay is expected, but the author of the article believes this would do little to improve the situation and suggests it may be too late to save the title. The author goes on to suggest the failure of the game will result in layoffs and more control of the company from Sony.

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