The First Descendant Dev Nexon Promises to Change Controversial Icons After Destiny Plagiarism Accusations

The developer of looter shooter The First Descendant has said it will change the icons in the game after it was accused of copying Bungie’s Destiny 2.

The First Descendant, a free-to-play shooter from Korean games company Nexon currently blowing up on Steam, was accused of using “barely-changed” Destiny 2 icons soon after release. Forbes pointed to the remarkable similarities between icons used by developer Bungie for its veteran looter shooter and those used by Nexon for its new looter shooter challenger.

‘The First Descendant’ Is Using Barely-Changed ‘Destiny 2’ Icons via @forbes https://t.co/rGdbfKNfJX pic.twitter.com/gGKfoTkLk9

— Paul Tassi (@PaulTassi) July 7, 2024

Amid the accusations, one Bungie icon artist tweeted to say it “feels like a great day to mention that Bungie icon artists are a super-crew of talented folks with original ideas and sharp instincts.”

Fans subsequently unearthed evidence to suggest the root of the problem might have been an icon database called Iconduck that features a Destiny Icons set that includes 204 icons, all supposedly open sourced with a Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal license. “All icons can be used for personal and commercial purposes,” Iconduck claims on its website.

The designer of the icon set explained that most of the icons in the set were “ripped from the font files created by Bungie and its designers.” At the time, fans speculated that Nexon might have used these Destiny icons from Iconduck and tweaked them slightly for The First Descendant.

In a statement issued to IGN, Nexon failed to explain the process it used for the icons in question, but did admit that Destiny 2 “served as an inspiration during the development process” and promised to make changes.

Here’s Nexon’s statement in full:

“The First Descendant, as a looter shooter game, was developed with a deep affection and respect for other games in the genre. Destiny 2, being a globally renowned looter shooter game, is also personally admired and respected by the team, and it has served as an inspiration during the development process. We have taken the concerns raised seriously and decided to make adjustments to ensure that the imagery that may appear similar clearly reflects the unique identity of our game. We will continue to improve the game for fans of the looter shooter genre.”

Generally speaking, The First Descendant is a mash-up of mechanics from various looter shooters already in the market. There’s more than a whiff of Destiny about The First Descendant’s design, systems, and mechanics, but then there’s also a lot of Warframe about it, too.

This week, Nexon released a significant update for The First Descendant that makes some big changes to the game, and leaves some aspects of it that had become a topic of discussion within the community well alone.

IGN’s The First Descendant review returned a 5/10. We said: “The First Descendant has all the building blocks of a fantastic looter shooter, but they’re buried under a pile of monotonous quests, a terrible story, and an infuriating free-to-play model that has influenced its game design in the worst possible way.”

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.