NEW ORLEANS — A federal court has dismissed Bungie’s request to invalidate the copyright lawsuit concerning its popular video game, Destiny 2. The ruling allows the case, which involves allegations of intellectual property theft, to proceed.
The lawsuit was filed by Matthew Kelsey Martineau, who is also known by the pen name Caspar Cole. Martineau claims that Bungie appropriated elements from his unpublished science fiction work, including characters, themes, and specific plot devices, during the development of Destiny 2’s Red War and Curse of Osiris campaigns. These allegations date back to late 2024, and the legal battle intensified as Bungie has vaulted key game content, rendering direct comparisons difficult.
Martineau asserts that Bungie’s Red Legion faction bears striking similarities to characters and concepts in his own writings. He highlights particulars like a celestial object above Earth and various war beasts, arguing these elements were integral to both narratives. In response, Bungie sought to dismiss the case, contending that Martineau’s claims lacked specificity and relied on vague evidence.
In its motion, Bungie presented hours of footage from YouTube and content from a fan-created wiki to argue that Destiny 2 diverges significantly from Martineau’s work. This strategy aimed to demonstrate that the game’s narrative features were not copied but original. However, the court found this argument unconvincing, establishing that relying on third-party content does not substantiate the claims made in the lawsuit.
Judge Susie Morgan, who presided over the case, rejected the notion that fan-made videos and wikis could effectively replace the original game content that Bungie has archived and rendered inaccessible. Citing the intricate nature of copyright law, she underscored the need for a proper side-by-side examination of the works in question, which is not feasible under the current circumstances.
Bungie’s assertions that the original code for the game’s campaigns are incompatible with the current framework of Destiny 2 further complicated their case. The inability to access the original game as it existed at launch in 2017 prevents a thorough legal evaluation of Martineau’s claims, according to the judge.
Martineau’s filing contained numerous alleged similarities between his narrative and Destiny 2, from the overarching theme of a Red Legion to celestial events impacting character arcs and timelines. Judge Morgan determined that Martineau had sufficiently established his case to meet the legal threshold for copyright infringement.
With the court rejecting Bungie’s dismissal motion, the next phase of this ongoing litigation will demand further scrutiny of the claims and the arguments presented by both parties. As the case moves forward, it will be crucial to examine the interplay between creativity and copyright in a digital landscape where original works can be visually and thematically influenced by various sources. The outcome could have lasting implications not just for Bungie but for the gaming industry as a whole, where the boundaries of originality are continually tested.