Bungie
is
a
studio
struggling
to
stay
afloat
these
days,
even
with
the
backing
of
parent
company
Sony.
They’ve
now
found
themselves
embroiled
in
more
trouble,
and
according
to
Forbes
morale
is
almost
non-existent.
Now,
a
new
source
has
revealed
that
things
might
be
even
worse
for
Bungie
and
Marathon
as
marketing
seems
to
have
been
pulled.

Speaking
on
the
latest
episode
of
Sacred
Symbols,
former
IGN
journalist
and
now
podcaster
Colin
Moriarty
addressed
the
recent
Bungie
controversy
revolving
around
yet
another
case
of
plagiarism,
the
4th
such
case
for
the
studio.
During
the
discussion
with
his
co-hosts,
Colin
revealed
that
he
had
talked
to
someone
behind
the
scenes
and
learned
and
interesting
tidbit.

“I
was
told
by
someone
familiar
with
marketing
plans
in
a
key
overseas
market
that
there
are
now
no
plans
to
do
paid
marketing
for
Marathon
at
all,”
said
Colin.
“I
don’t
know
if
those
plans
were
affected
by
what
has
recently
happened
or
if
that
was
always
the
plan
or
whatever,
but
it
is
considered
a
fairly
unusual
move
for
a
game
of
this
high
profile.”

Exactly
what
this
means
for
Marathon
and
Bungie
is
up
for
debate.
Personally,
I
think
this
is
probably
due
to
them
having
to
pause
any
and
all
marketing
simply
because
they
have
to
investigate
and
remove
all
the
stolen
art.
If
they
continue
marketing
the
game,
they
risk
publically
displaying
more
of
it
and
getting
themselves
into
further
trouble.
It
could
also
point
to
a
delay
incoming.
Marathon
is
currently
set
to
release
on
September
23,
but
depending
on
how
long
it
takes
them
to
remove
the
artwork
in
question,
the
game
could
wind
up
being
delayed.
The
recent
beta
feedback
was
also
very
mixed,
so
they
could
use
a
delay
to
work
on
the
game
a
little
more,
too.

Of
course,
as
always
insider
reports
must
be
taken
with
a
pinch
of
salt.
Usually
with
such
instances,
Colin
would
state
whether
he
as
able
to
verify
the
source
etc.
but
in
this
case
didn’t
mention
how
trustworthy
he
thought
the
information
was.
However,
in
my
experience,
Colin
doesn’t
usually
throw
out
things
like
this
if
he
isn’t
at
least
fairly
confident
that
it’s
accurate.