Sony recently released the PlayStation 4 Lineup Music Video Winter Mix, which showcased the console’s large game catalogue in sections divided by vibrant animated sequences and fun music. However, many noticed something fishy about said animated sequences—namely, many of them had allegedly copied animations from other artists, including students and existing shows and films. Because of this, Sony has pulled the promo from the internet, making it private, though that hasn’t stopped reuploads of the entire thing, such as the video linked below.
The video was first uploaded last week on November 29 by the PlayStation Japan channel on YouTube. Several days later, Russian animator Oleg Kositsyn was one of the first to spot the alleged art theft, as he noticed one sequence had allegedly copied his work.
After more artists came forward to identify allegedly copied sequences, such as Cartoon Network’s Ian Jones-Quartey noticing one sequence allegedly copied from Steven Universe: The Movie, French animation website Catsuka has compiled the original animations to create a side-by-side comparison of the originals and the promo video. In addition to Kositsyn’s work and Steven Universe, the video allegedly copied sequences from the anime FLCL, animation collective Souviens Ten-Zan, and even the work of students.
Said student work is from Gobelins, a visual communication school based in France. The allegedly copied animation was taken from the students’ short special effects exercises, which they completed for class.
According to the Japanese PlayStation blog, the director of the promo is Kevin Bao, an accomplished Canadian director who has won awards from the Ottawa International Animation Festival and London International Animation Festival. He’s worked with big clients like Sony before, such as Disney. Since the news of these accusations broke, some on Twitter have found even more alleged similarities between his work and others.
Neither Bao nor Sony has made a public comment on the issue, but Bao’s Instagram has gone private and his agency has removed his portfolio from its website.