Destiny 2’s recently announced Ace of Spades Nerf gun collaboration has been accused of stealing a nine-year-old piece of fan art for its design.
Update : Bungie has investigated the matter and issued the following statement: ” We are currently in contact with the artist to make sure they are compensated and credited for their incredible artwork.” Our original report follows.
Destiny 2 is no stranger to plagiarism accusations. Bungie was accused of using fan artwork for one of the game’s Witch Queen trailers back in 2021, and again in 2023 for seemingly using fan art for a cutscene in Season of the Deep without permission. While it’s probably towards the back end of the studio’s list of problems at the moment, plagiarism accusations are making the rounds once again.
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This time, Bungie is being accused of lifting a piece of fan art by Twitter user Tofu_Rabbit for its recently announced Ace of Spades Nerf gun collaboration. Tofu_Rabbit has claimed that the nerf gun’s design matches their artwork that was commissioned back in 2015, and while their artwork is a variant of the game’s iconic gun, it seems as though Bungie or Nerf have lifted Tofu_Rabbit’s specific design.
Tofu_Rabbit has shared a side by side image of the two guns in question, highlighting the similarities between them. From a quick glance, they don’t really look that similar, but a closer inspection reveals that the two guns share remarkably similar scuff marks in the same positions, most notably on the barrel, as well as identical patterns near the trigger and chamber.
Destiny 2’s Ace Of Spades Nerf Gun Accused Of Stealing Fan Artwork
It’s worth noting that since this is a collaboration with Nerf, it’s possible that Bungie may not be responsible for this little hiccup. It’s also possible that someone contracted to make the design lifted art from nine years ago and hoped that nobody would notice. In that case, it would be extremely difficult for Bungie to check for plagiarism, especially with how popular the Ace of Spades is as a weapon.
Still, it sucks for Tofu_Rabbit to see their work lifted – and presumably sold – without credit in this way. The good news is that Bungie appears to have already reached out to Tofu_Rabbit, and they’ve explained in a separate Reddit post that “the right people have already seen it.” Here’s hoping that the studio or Nerf owner Hasbro sorts out some form of compensation for Tofu_Rabbit for their work.
