Bungie Faces Legal Challenges Due to Destiny 2’s Content Vaulting

Okay, so here’s the scoop. Bungie, you know, the folks behind Destiny 2, recently had a lot of chatter going on. And it’s not even about their next big thing, the 2025 shooter Marathon. Nah, it’s about something entirely different.

Get this: A federal judge just told Bungie they can’t dismiss this wild lawsuit. Matthew Kelsey Martineau, a writer who goes by Caspar Cole (cool name, right?), is saying Bungie lifted some pretty big ideas from his unpublished sci-fi story for Destiny 2’s Red War and Curse of Osiris expansions. He put this stuff on his blog, and bam, now he’s in court. This kicked off last October, and Bungie wanted it tossed out – obviously didn’t work. Funny how that happens.

So, why did Bungie hit a wall? Well, they couldn’t produce actual play versions of the Red War and Osiris stuff because they deleted them ages ago. They call it the “Destiny Content Vault” — basically a fancy way of saying “we took it out back and buried it.” It’s part of keeping the game neat and tidy. Not sure how I feel about that. Anyway, they tried using YouTube videos and wiki pages as proof. Nice try, but nope, not enough, said the judge. You gotta have the real deal for a fair comparison, and funny enough, Bungie can’t just whip up a new build with old stuff. It’s like they painted themselves into a corner.

Oh, and if you’re into legal documents – can’t say I am, but hey, to each their own – Judge Susie Morgan’s 16 pages are out there somewhere. Apparently, Bungie tried saying those videos and wikis were solid representations of the game, but the court didn’t buy it. Too unofficial, it seems.

Bungie admitted they can’t just rebuild the old content. Shocker. The game’s evolved or something, and now the old stuff doesn’t fit. Kind of like when you try to fit into those jeans from high school. I’ve been there.

So, thanks to this whole situation and how it got tangled with game-vs-book comparisons, Martineau’s case is moving ahead. He’s convinced he’s got a copyright infringement situation on his hands. Maybe he does. Who knows anymore?

When I first heard about this last year, I kind of shrugged it off. I mean, Destiny’s Red Legion versus Martineau’s stuff – there’s a lot of sci-fi overlap, right? But now, thanks to Bungie’s vaulting ways, things have unraveled more than anyone thought.

The whole thing’s become a bigger headache for Bungie, ironically because of their own decisions. They should’ve seen it coming? Maybe, who can say. But how do you predict something like this?

In the end, I figure Bungie’ll wriggle out of it somehow, but crazy enough, Martineau’s chances aren’t looking too shabby. Let’s see how it all pans out, because this tale’s spinning in directions I never expected.