Destiny 2 Lawsuit Continues As Judge Rejects Bungie’s Use Of YouTube Videos And Wikis

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The legal battle between Bungie and the party accusing them of using copyrighted ideas in Destiny 2 became more intricate, as a judge declined Bungie’s effort to throw out the lawsuit and stated that fan-made YouTube videos and wiki pages submitted by Bungie as evidence are not acceptable.

In late 2024, author Matthew Kelsey Martineau filed a lawsuit against Bungie, claiming that they had supposedly copied several ideas from his work. Among these allegations are the Red Legion faction in Destiny 2 and other elements such as a massive celestial object floating over Earth.

Bungie aimed to discard the lawsuit, however, they encountered an unusual predicament. Some elements that Martineau claimed were infringing copyright, particularly the original Red War campaign and Curse of Osiris campaign in Destiny 2, haven’t been accessible for quite some time. These campaigns have been taken out from Destiny 2 as part of Bungie’s regular process of removing older content known as “vaulting.” This situation prompted Bungie to submit YouTube lore videos, such as a lengthy “Complete Story of Destiny” video by YouTuber My Name is Byf, and wiki pages from Destinypedia in their motion to dismiss the case, to demonstrate the disparities between Destiny 2 and Martineau’s work.

As a dedicated fan, I find myself sharing some insights about a recent development from Bungie. In an effort to clear up a legal matter, Destiny 2’s game director, Tyson Green, shed light on why certain campaigns like Red War and Curse of Osiris are no longer playable. The reason being that their outdated code clashes with the modern infrastructure supporting Destiny 2, making it incompatible to run them smoothly. As a result, Bungie has been using YouTube videos and wiki pages as alternative resources for fans like me who want to relive those campaigns.

In a recent statement, I shared that, as a dedicated fan and member of the team at Bungie, it’s unfortunately not possible for us to offer the original Destiny 2 game from 2017, including the ‘Red War’ and ‘Curse of Osiris’ campaigns, in a functional or examinable state. This is because we can’t recreate or retrieve these specific campaigns in an operational or scrutable form, whether this legal matter progresses to formal discovery or not.

In summary, the judge presiding over the copyright infringement case has determined that there is enough evidence to move forward with it. The judge clarified that YouTube videos and wiki pages will not be accepted as evidence by them because they come from a third party and their authenticity has yet to be established. Furthermore, the cases Bungie presented in its motion to dismiss are not applicable to this particular case. Instead, the judge mentioned that this case would necessitate a more intricate side-by-side analysis compared to those performed in the cited court cases by the defendant.

On May 6th, Bungie plans to unveil the next expansion for Destiny 2, titled The Edge of Fate, during a live broadcast. In the meantime, Bungie’s latest game, Marathon, has concluded its private Alpha testing and is set for release on September 23rd.

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2025-05-05 20:09