Bungie's strategy to use YouTube videos of its “vaulted” Destiny 2 content as a shield against copyright claims backfired when a judge refused to watch a 10 hour lore lesson

Bungie has been tied up in a lawsuit since October 2024, and it’s not exactly going in their favor. Sci-fi writer Matthew Kelsey Martineau claims the studio pulled parts of his story (published on his blog under the pseudonym Caspar Cole) for Destiny 2’s original campaign. Bungie tried backing themselves up with fan-made YouTube videos and wiki pages as evidence, but the Judge wasn’t about to sit through a 10-hour lore deep dive.

The unforeseen cost of vaulting

Matthew Kesley Martineau filed a lawsuit against Bungie, that allegedly copied elements from his story, written between 2013 and 2014, for Destiny 2’s Red War campaign. Martineau argues that both his story and the game feature a faction called the Red Legion, which uses flamethrowers and war hounds.

Source: Destinypedia; Destiny 2, developer: Bungie

But Bungie’s defense is complicated. The Red War campaign (and a bunch of other early Destiny 2 content) was vaulted back in 2020, which means it’s no longer playable or even accessible. They argued the game’s engine has changed so much since then that bringing it back isn’t really doable. So, to back their case, Bungie submitted fan-made YouTube videos and wiki pages as evidence, including a 10-hour lore explainer and a two-hour cutscene compilation.

However, on May 2nd, Judge Susie Morgan rejected Bungie's defense, calling the fan-made materials unreliable and not authentic enough for the court. She explained that comparing written works to hours of gameplay videos and third-party sources is too complicated for a straightforward copyright case. As a result, the lawsuit will continue since Bungie failed to provide a valid defense.

That’s definitely an unexpected result from removing substantial portions of a live-service game. No one saw that coming, but it could be a wake-up call for other studios. Maybe now Bungie will be more cautious with their new title, Marathon.

Destiny 2

September 6, 2017

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