Bungie has done it again. They admit that fan art was used on an official Destiny 2 collectible. The artist will be compensated and credited for the incredible artwork.

Bungie has confirmed that it will pay the artist who was involved in the snafu.

The problem was discovered earlier this week after Bungie released the Nerf Ace of Spades - a Nerf replica of the hand cannon used by Destiny guardian Cayde-6. The next day, Tofu_Rabbit tweeted the new pretend-firearm was "directly lifted from a commission I completed in 2015".

"This is not a coincidence or'similar', you can see the same brush strokes and scratches/smudges," said they on Twitter.

The tweet included images that made it clear. Ace of Spades may be Ace of Spades but the details and imperfections of the Nerf design are almost identical to Tofu_Rabbit’s work.

It's definitely not a coincident.

Bungie responded the same day to the complaint, saying that it was "investigating internal and with our partner" and was in contact with the artist. We have a solution, and it appears that Bungie or Nerf lifted Tofu_Rabbit’s work for Nerf Ace of Spades.

The Destiny 2 Team tweeted: "We've investigated with our partner Nerf." "We are in contact with the artist right now to ensure they are compensated for their incredible art and credited."

Tofu_Rabbit appears pleased with the outcome. "Just wanted to give a final update, Bungie's situation is resolved!" They tweeted. "They have been nothing but professional and nice to me and I am grateful."

I love the happy ending and I give Bungie props for getting it sorted out quickly. But I have to ask: How in the world did this happen? My guess is that Nerf took Tofu_Rabbit's Ace of Spades art as official and ran with it, which is understandable to the extent that the art is just that good, but how can a major toy company move ahead with a licensed project like this without being 100% no-confusion-no-mistakes certain that it's working with official assets? How does Bungie negotiate a licensing agreement with the toy company if it doesn't include all of the assets that it has? It wouldn't sign the paperwork, then say "Okay, there are plenty of pictures on the internet," right? We are here.

This is the third time that something similar has happened. Bungie accidentally used unofficial fan art in a Destiny 2 Cutscene in 2023, and another piece of fan artwork was mistakenly included in a Destiny 2 Trailer in 2021. As the old saying says, once is an accidental, twice is a coincident, and three times, man, get your act together.

Preorders for the Nerf Ace Of Spades are now available for anyone who has achieved the Legend Title by September 24. After that date, everyone else can get their hands on whatever stock is still left.