PP Corcoran wrote the Saiph Series which on the cover of his first book is master chief “http://www.ppcorcoran.com/product-category/books/series/the-saiph-series/”. I’ve been trying to get in contact with 343i to let them know about it, he said he bought the rights for a “space marine” picture from shutterstock.
I think the issue isn’t the authors fault, It seems he is a small author working off of bad stock images. Shutterstock has an issue with copyright, and copyright laws are so bad badly laid out that this stuff gets away,
Example A:
Thats clearly a character from destiny, but they could argue that its not.
Personally I think that they saw your message/email/whatever, and its being handled quietly as to not have the press saying that they are shutting down small authors for measly things as images.