Legal Challenges Emerge for Bungie Due to Destiny 2’s Content Vaulting

Alright, here goes. So, you know, Bungie’s been popping up in the news a lot. Mainly ’cause of this new Marathon game they’re cooking up for, like, 2025. Community’s buzzing with opinions, as usual. But yeah, that’s not all. They’ve gotten themselves tangled in something else lately.

So, out of nowhere on a random Friday, a judge threw Bungie’s hopes of squashing this Destiny 2 lawsuit right out the window. Why, you ask? There’s this guy, Matthew Kelsey Martineau—he goes by Caspar Cole when he’s writing—who’s claiming Bungie basically ripped off his unpublished sci-fi stuff from his little WordPress corner during the making of Destiny 2’s Red War and Curse of Osiris. This case kicked off last October. Bungie wanted it tossed out, but five months and a bit of legal juggling later, the judge said, “Nope!”

If you dig through Judge Susie Morgan’s hefty 16-page ruling, you’ll find Bungie’s real problem—no more playable builds of those game parts. They got rid of ’em ages back, part of this “Content Vault” thing where they, sometimes frustratingly, lock away old game bits to keep the game trim. C’mon, even I feel a bit nostalgic here!

Bungie thought it’d be clever, using YouTube walkthroughs and fan-maintained wiki pages as proof. But, surprise, surprise, they’re “nah, not gonna cut it,” said the judge. Those third-party vids and pages? Just not robust enough for a head-to-head showdown. Bungie even admitted they can’t just whip up those old campaigns again. Their reply kinda read like, “Yeah, sorry folks, no can do.”

This all means Martineau’s accusations will carry on marching forward. The court’s like, “you’ve got enough substance for a copyright beef.” Now, here’s where it gets twisty, Bungie’s stuck in a pickle. And who even thought this would get this far? At first, I was sure it’d get snuffed out quick-like. While Martineau’s claims about the Red Legion have some meat, lots of it feels like reaching, you know?

A big point? The whole floating Traveler thing giving Guardians powers—compared to something orbiting Earth in Martineau’s tale. Sure, it sounds kinda cosmic, but space stories always got some celestial whatchamacallits.

So, thought this case would just fizzle, right? But it’s morphing into this monster issue for Bungie, all thanks to their own choice to lock away older game content. Maybe life’s a circle, huh? Us gamers still argue over if the Destiny Content Vault was genius or just plain bonkers. Yet, it sure has tossed Bungie a curveball in this lawsuit nonsense.

Even though I’m wagering Bungie walks out with a win, the fact Martineau’s got a fighting chance—it’s like adding hot sauce to the narrative. Can’t wait to see how this wild ride unfolds!