Bungie’s legal battle over a copyright infringement lawsuit related to Destiny 2 has hit a snag as the studio failed to provide evidence in court due to the content being ‘vaulted’. The lawsuit, brought by writer Matthew Kelsey Martineau, alleges that Destiny 2’s Red Legion was directly lifted from his writings on WordPress years before the game’s release.
In response to the lawsuit, Bungie attempted to have the case dismissed, arguing that the examples cited by Martineau were different in Destiny 2 than in his work. However, the evolving nature of Destiny 2’s storyline, with content like the Red War campaign and Curse of Osiris now placed in the Destiny Content Vault, made it challenging for Bungie to present the original content to the court.
Bungie’s game director, Tyson Green, explained in an affidavit that the outdated code of the Red War and Curse of Osiris campaigns was incompatible with Destiny 2’s current framework, making it impossible for Bungie to provide the original game as it existed in 2017 for review. This technical limitation led Bungie to submit player-made YouTube videos and entries from fan-written sources to explain the lore of the archived content.
Despite Bungie’s efforts, the court deemed the submitted evidence insufficient and denied the motion to dismiss the case. Judge Susie Morgan emphasized that Martineau’s accusations were directed at the game’s storyline itself, not third-party retellings. As a result, the case will proceed, highlighting the challenges faced by game developers in preserving and presenting historical game content in legal disputes.
Legal experts suggest that this case underscores the complexities of intellectual property disputes in the gaming industry, where live-service games like Destiny 2 constantly evolve, leading to challenges in preserving and accessing older content for legal purposes. The outcome of this lawsuit could set a precedent for how game developers handle similar copyright claims in the future.
As the legal battle continues, it raises questions about the responsibilities of game developers to maintain historical game content for potential legal disputes and the implications of ‘vaulting’ content in live-service games. The evolving nature of the gaming industry and the legal landscape surrounding intellectual property rights may require developers to adopt new strategies to address these challenges effectively.
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