An author accuses Bungie, the developer behind Destiny 2, of copying its story. Now Bungie has to face a defeat in court because it cannot provide any real evidence.
What kind of process is this? In October 2024, science fiction author Matthew Kelsey Martineau accused the development studio Bungie of having taken ideas for the first Destiny 2 campaign from a story. He claims to have published this under the pseudonym Caspar Cole on his blog.
The author demanded damages for copyright infringement, and the complaint consists of 53 pages, as TheGamePost reports.
What is the problem now? Bungie moves content that the team no longer considers relevant to the so-called Destiny content vault (DIT). The team argues that this allows for better maintenance of the content. They also explain that archived content could potentially return to the game in the future (via bungie.net).
However, this has now backfired on Bungie in court. They could not refute the allegations in court because all relevant parts of Destiny 2 are now unplayable and hidden in the “vault.”
And it gets even more frustrating: It turned out that the material in the vault cannot be restored because the engine had been updated. This was recently reported by the English magazine PCGamer.
Bungie wants to prove with YouTube videos that copyright has not been violated
How did Bungie attempt to substantiate its arguments? Bungie presented a 10-hour evidence video to the judge, which was compiled by the YouTuber MynameisByf. Bungie insisted that “the attached videos are the best possible way for the court to review the accused work.”
Another evidence video provides a compilation of cutscenes, also assembled by a fan and only two hours and 40 minutes long.
How did the judge respond? When Bungie filed a motion to dismiss the case, showing only long YouTube videos, the judge denied the motion (via PCGamer.com):
The court will not consider the attachments included with the defendant’s motion to dismiss and will not convert the defendant’s motion to dismiss into a motion for a summary judgment. There was not enough time for evidence collection, and the attachments are admittedly created by third parties. Their authenticity is not proven.
What happens next? For Bungie, this means that the copyright infringement trial will indeed continue. And possibly that the content they remove from the game and move to the vault will be further maintained after all.
Bungie has published a current “This Week in Destiny” post and although many feel deflated, the developers of the loot shooter have decided on a change that many fans might be interested in: Events in Destiny 2 are about to become worthwhile, and to achieve that Bungie is removing a hated feature.
