The First Descendant will change its in-game icons following accusations that it swiped them from Destiny 2

Several days after players noticed that numerous icons in The First Descendant are very similar to ones found in Destiny 2—and in some cases, virtually identical—Nexon says it will make changes to ensure the imagery «clearly reflects the unique identity of our game.»

The similarities came to light earlier this month, and as Forbes noted at the time, there are far too many (and in some cases, they're far too alike) to be a coincidence. 

‘The First Descendant’ Is Using Barely-Changed ‘Destiny 2’ Icons via @forbes https://t.co/rGdbfKNfJX pic.twitter.com/gGKfoTkLk9July 7, 2024

One theory, floated shortly after the resemblances were discovered, was that Bungie and Nexon sourced their in-game icons from the same place, but that didn't seem to hold water: Why would a major studio like Bungie make use of third-party icon sets?

Bungie artist Lyndon Willoughby indirectly but unmistakably shot down that idea, writing on Twitter that «Bungie icon artists are a super-crew of talented folks with original ideas and sharp instincts.»

The situation got even stranger when the presumed source of the icons, a «free open source icons and illustrations» repository called Iconduck, was found to be offering icons from Destiny and numerous other games for use in both personal and commercial projects. The site contains 204 Destiny icons, for instance, and specifically states that «these icons and illustrations can be used for commercial purposes»—like in a videogame, for instance.

Tom Chapman, the maker of the Bray.tech Destiny 2 fan site and artist credited by Iconduck for making the icons, disavowed his role in the whole thing. «Most of the icons are ripped from the font files created by Bungie and its designers,» Chapman tweeted. «Most of the remainder are designed by Bungie and recreated by me or whoever contributed them to that repo. I don't want @iamiconduck to use my work like this.»

Bungie's terms of service allows the use of its data and content for non-commercial projects like