Destiny 2 cutscene “mistakenly” used fanart, so Bungie is compensating the artist behind it

bungie has said it will credit and compensate an artist whose Destiny 2 fanart was used “by mistake” in a recently added scene.

Some potential spoilers for Destiny 2 Season of the Deep ahead.

last week, a great scene was added to Destiny 2 as part of the ongoing Season of the Deep, and for all you fans of the lore, it was a big one. The important thing was that an explanation behind the origin of the Witness, the big villain of the game at the moment, was explained. The problem? A portion of the scene features fanart that was used without permission or acknowledgment for the artist who created it.

As reported by pc gamer, artist Julian Faylona, ​​aka ELEMENTJ21, shared a tweet showing a comparison between a particular moment in the scene and some older fanart from them. He can check out the tweet below, and you don’t need to look long at any of the pieces to see the similarities. The only big differences are the lack of color at the time of the scene, and the style is not exactly the same as the fanart, but everything else is pretty much the same.

Faylona was contacted by PC Gamer about the use of her fanart, who actually seemed to feel positive about it. “To be honest, I’m really excited and happy that the piece I did 2 years ago, which, even back then, I fully recognized as being based on the Destiny franchise, came on the scene,” Faylona told PC Gamer. “It was totally unexpected and it took me completely by surprise. So much so that I wanted to make a shout out about it.”

Bungie also provided a statement to PC Gamer, explaining that this happened due to a “third-party vendor” mix-up.

“Bungie has reached out to ELEMENTJ21 about this week’s scene artwork and plans to compensate them and give them credit for their work,” Bungie’s statement read. “We discovered that a third-party vendor who helped create this scene mistakenly used this art as a reference, assuming it was official Bungie art. We are currently awaiting a response from the artist to take steps to remedy this situation.”

Not the ideal way to pay an artist for their work, but hey, it’s great to know that Faylona will get the credit and compensation she deserves.

We’ll be learning about what’s next for Destiny 2 this August as a showcase prepares to showcase the upcoming expansion, The Final Shape.