Joseph Cross had been an artist at Bungie for over a decade by the time he stepped into the role of lead art director for the studio's first new game in years, Marathon. He was also the lead art director who joined Marathon's game director, Joe Ziegler, in a live stream earlier this year, where Bungie admitted it had used art from artist Antireal without permission or proper accreditation.
Today, The Game Post spotted that Cross's LinkedIn page indicated he had left Bungie, and after The Game Post's initial report, Cross took to X (formerly Twitter) to confirm the news of his departure from Bungie after 14 years with the studio, and just a few months ahead of Marathon's upcoming release in March 2026.
"I'm incredibly proud of the visual world we built for Marathon. Getting support at this scale for something a bit different is rare, and the art team at Bungie is the best in the biz," Cross wrote. "I'll be enjoying playing the game as a fan with all of you. Massive thank you to everyone who has supported through all of it."
Before Cross was the art director for Marathon, he had been a senior art director at Bungie since 2018. That means he was also a senior member of the team when Bungie was caught using another artist's work without permission in 2021, then again in 2023, and in 2024, on top of this year's blunder with Antireal.
All of those instances, including this year's with Antireal, have been resolved, with Antireal posting on X (formerly Twitter) early this month that the issue had been "resolved with Bungie and Sony Interactive Entertainment to my satisfaction."
According to a report from Kotaku, Cross told the publication that it was his choice to leave Bungie, and added, "I’m super proud of the project and what the team accomplished over the last six years."
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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