A cutscene showing the Witness’s origin is a significant moment in Destiny 2′s story. Although the lore heavy video garnered praise from the Destiny community, it has also sparked a debate about legality and morality. The artist @ELEMENTJ21 on Twitter shared side-by-side images of their Destiny 2 fan art from two years ago — originally posted on Instagram and ArtStation — and the still image from the cutscene.
I just realized Bungie took inspiration from my piece for this week's cutscene. Certainly took me by surprise when I watched the cutscene.#destiny2 #DestinyTheGame #Lightfall pic.twitter.com/aSpZ4SzFL0
— Julian Faylona (ELEMENTJ21) (@ELEMENTJ21) June 20, 2023
“The Veil of Darkness” art features a veiled statue from the Pyramid Fleet in front of a circle and triangle shape. An orb sits at the bottom of the image, and the top has several smaller pyramids surrounding the veiled statue. It’s not an exact copy, but the composition is so similar that “inspiration” doesn’t seem like the right word to describe it. Some Destiny 2 players commenting under the tweet hope the artist receives credit and compensation, while others don’t think Bungie is to blame.
Also, it turns out that the artist submitted their fan art to Bungie’s Community Creations digital gallery. If you go to the Creations page and try to submit a link, the text says:
“By using this form, you are submitting content to Bungie. When you submit content to Bungie, you agree to the Bungie Services Terms of Use, which also means you’re promising us that you have the right to upload that content, that we can freely use it without condition, and you agree that your submission follows our Code of Conduct.”
Although submitted artwork doesn’t become the property of Bungie, the developer can freely use the community art it showcases on the Creations page (not sure if this includes the TWID’s Artist of the Week). However, the statement doesn’t clearly inform artists that Bungie can use fan art in Destiny 2 lore or make their art canon in-game.
Bungie’s policy on fan-created art states that artists can upload fan art on social media and Bungie’s Community Creation page. It also discusses concerns with community art commercializing any Destiny IP without permission. This section doesn’t explain much about usage, but the “Materials provided to Bungie or posted to the Bungie Services” in the Terms of Use provides an explanation.
In short, people submitting materials to Bungie retain their ownership, but the developer can use those materials royalty-free, make derivative works, and even reproduce submissions. “No compensation will be paid with respect to the use of your Submission,” it adds. This section doesn’t explicitly list fan art material, but it does include other media submissions like images and videos. Still, proper credit and compensation for fan art used in-game isn’t a tall order.
This isn’t the first time a community artist saw their work in Destiny 2 either. In Destiny 2: The Witch Queen‘s promotional clip of Ikora’s evidence board, an artist recognized their fan art of Xivu Arath. This artist stated that they submitted their piece for the fan art showcase too. Bungie said that it was accidental and, afterward, reached out to the artist for permission and gave credit. Recently, @D2Clarity — that works with third-party sites like DIM — shared on Twitter that the visual recoil direction meter they created is in the game.
As of now, Bungie hasn’t publicly said anything about the use of fan art in the Witness cutscene.
Update:
Bungie said on Twitter that an external vendor accidentally used Faylona’s fan art, mistaking it for official Bungie artwork. The developer apologized to the artist and will provide credit and compensation.
