The First Descendant has had a rocky two weeks since launch. After receiving a slew of negative reviews due to its aggressive monetization strategies, the game now also faces accusations of plagiarising Destiny 2‘s artwork and content.
This relates to icons that have seemingly either been directly lifted from Destiny 2 or were implemented following light edits. While some of the icons in The First Descendant may appear merely similar, others leave little room for speculation as they appear to be one-to-one copies of those found in Destiny 2. However, the reason behind these supposed similarities might not be as sinister as some thought, and the root of the problem may lie in an icon database and its misuse of the Creative Commons license.
As first reported by PC Gamer, Nexon likely used Iconduck, a supposedly “free and open-source” icon database that contains, surprise, surprise, a Destiny icon pack. Nexon might have taken this for use in their game and lightly edited them, as everything on the site is marketed as usable in commercial products. The icons themselves were made by Tom Chapman, who worked on the Bray.tech websites (per IGN) for Destiny 2.
However, Iconduck also contains numerous artwork from popular franchises that apparently couldn’t be considered open-source and royalty-free, casting doubt at Nexon’s nonchalant use of the Destiny 2 icon pack.
The First Descendant has been struggling to cement itself in the looter-shooter genre since its launch on June 30. After getting review-bombed for its aggressive monetization, the game has been called out for lifting the modding system straight out of Warframe. Paired with that, the situation surrounding Nexon’s use of Destiny 2‘s icons only aggravates the situation and reduces The First Descendant‘s chance to replace the existing behemoths in the looter-shooter market.
