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Bungie is being sued for alleged plagiarism for the launch story arc of Destiny 2. The base game’s now-unplayable Red War storyline allegedly copies story content from a story published on WordPress.
Author Kelsey Martineau, a Louisiana-based author, filed a lawsuit against Bungie on October 2, 2024 for copyright infringement of a story they published under the pen name “Caspar Cole”.
Destiny 2 Red War lawsuit
In the lawsuit, available here, it’s alleged that the Red Legion from the now-unplayable Destiny 2 Red War arc is a direct translation of Martinaeu’s story. Martineau’s story, published on WordPress in 2013, also focused on a Red Legion “a powerful military force, that is embroiled in an unending cycle of warfare”.
The lawsuit specifies that the Destiny 2 villain Dominus Ghaul has an identical motivation and origin story as the author’s character “Yinnerah”. Martineau explains that both characters have the same goal to take control of a powerful entity protecting Earth. In Bungie’s game, that’s the iconic Traveler, whereas Martineau’s story was a location called “Tononob Station.”
“The rise of Dominus Ghaul from Destiny 2 replicates the rise of Overlord Yinnerah from Martineau’s work; they are both urged, guided, and assisted by outcast mentors (scholars) to overthrow their leaders to rise to power with the intentions of invading Earth,” the complaint reads.
It’s also stated that the opening of the Red War arc is extremely similar to a scene from the story.
“In both Martineau’s work (including, without limitation, “The First Defense”) and Destiny 2, rebels fend off Red Legion invaders on Earth against backdrops of burning settlements, ravaged streets, and utter chaos,” the lawsuit reads.
Seeking Damages
Kelsey Martineau is seeking damages for copyright infringement by Bungie, claiming the similarities between their published story and Bungie’s game are “deliberate and intentional”. The author aims to have a jury trial to determine the similarities between the two works.
The full 53-page document does cite numerous similarities between the story and the Destiny 2 Red War story. From apocalyptic storylines to Destiny’s “The Almighty” superweapon allegedly being a copy of Martineau’s “Atonizer” device.
At the time of writing, Bungie has yet to respond to the lawsuit.
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