Sci-Fi Author Files Lawsuit Against Bungie

Key Takeaways

• An author has filed a lawsuit against Bungie claiming copyright infringement in Destiny 2’s Red War storyline.
• The lawsuit alleges Bungie copied key elements from author’s story, including antagonist factions and character backstories.
• Lawsuit seeks damages and injunctive relief to potentially remove infringing content from Destiny 2.

A science fiction author based in the United States has filed suit against Destiny 2 developer Bungie, claiming copyright infringement against the studio. The suit claims that Bungie copied elements of the author’s story for the narrative of Destiny 2.

Just fresh off a celebration of the 10th anniversary of Destiny, it’s not an exaggeration to say that Bungie has created something of an institution in live-service games. Millions of Destiny and Destiny 2 players have gotten familiar with Bungie’s signature shooter gameplay, and with the unique world the studio has established. It’s one where Bungie employed a blending of military sci-fi with high-concept fantasy, as immortal Guardians armed with the powers of Light and Darkness wield mystical firearms of all sorts against the enemies of humanity and its allies.

That legacy might be called into question, based on a lawsuit filed by Louisiana-based author Kelsey Martineau. According to a report in The Game Post, Martineau filed suit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana on October 2, 2024. The lawsuit alleges that Bungie directly copied elements from Martineau’s work for use in the Red War storyline of Destiny 2. The Red War is the base storyline of Destiny 2 and was accessible in the game from its launch in 2017 until its sunsetting in 2020. The Red War content is currently stored inside the controversial Destiny Content Vault.

Sci-Fi Author Claims Destiny 2 Copied The Red War

According to the lawsuit, Bungie committed copyright infringement by taking various key elements of the Destiny 2 Red War campaign from a story Martineau wrote under the pen name Caspar Cole in 2013 and 2014, and published on a WordPress.com blog. The main point of the lawsuit claims that both Martineau’s story and Destiny 2 feature a faction called the Red Legion as the main antagonists in the story. In Destiny 2, the Red Legion are a faction of the warlike Cabal species led by the villain Dominus Ghaul, who wishes to capture the Traveler, the massive entity that floats over the Last City. In Martineau’s story, the Red Legion is an alien army led by Overlord Yinnerah, a warlord that seeks to conquer Earth and claim Tononob Station, a massive floating habitat in low orbit.

Though the Red Legion sits at the center of the suit, the full complaint also raises a number of other similarities between Destiny 2 and Martineau’s story. These include the motivations and backstories of the characters Yinnerah and Dominus Ghaul, Destiny 2 Cabal enemies that wield flamers, War Beasts, the character of Failsafe, and even later-game revelations about the nature of the Exo race. Should the lawsuit meet with success, Martineau will seek damages and injunctive relief, the latter of which could potentially force Bungie to remove infringing content from Destiny 2 or curtail future plans for the game if they involved infringing elements. At the time of writing, Bungie has not yet responded to the lawsuit.