UPDATE: Apparently, Bungie reached out to the original artist and they are in the process of working this out.
“Thank you for the overwhelming support, Bungie already reached out so the right people have already seen it. Muting this [Reddit] post now” –TofuRabbit
ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
Bungie is again facing serious allegations of plagiarism after the design for their Nerf Ace of Spades replica was found to be nearly identical to a piece of fan art commissioned in 2015. Twitter/X user Tofu_Rabbit, the artist behind the original work, recently posted a side-by-side comparison on social media, revealing that the unique and intricate details of their Ace of Spades design had been lifted wholesale for the official Nerf product.
This wasn’t a case of inspiration or homage—many aspects of the design were a direct copy-and-paste, down to identical markings, scratches, and smudges.
https://twitter.com/Tofu_Rabbit/status/1833851336607101076
In their post, which you can see above (before it gets taken down) Tofu_Rabbit tagged several prominent Bungie community managers and accounts, including @Bungie, @BungieHelp, @DestinyTheGame, @A_dmg04, @Cozmo23, and @DestinyComArt, saying,
“soo, the NERF ace of spades DIRECTLY lifts a commission I did in 2015. This is not “similar” or a coincidence, you can see my same brush strokes and scratches/smudges.”
The post quickly gained attention, with fans expressing their frustration at yet another incident of Bungie allegedly stealing fan-created content.
This is not the first time Bungie has been accused of plagiarism. Roughly a year ago, another Twitter/X user revealed that their fan art had been used in a new cutscene in Destiny 2 without permission. After the community backlash, Bungie reached out to correct the situation, but this latest incident feels even worse given the scale of the product involved.
The Nerf Ace of Spades gun, a 1:1 scale replica of the iconic Destiny weapon, is currently being sold as a collectible on the Bungie Store and additionally, as an in-game ornament featuring the same allegedly stolen design is available for purchase in Destiny 2.
The blatant plagiarism in this case is unacceptable, and many in the community hope Bungie will take swift action to address the issue. With Bungie’s history of taking fan contributions and turning them into profit on more than one occasion, fans are calling for greater accountability. Bungie cannot keep doing this, and many are waiting to see how they will handle this new wave of criticism.
