An author is suing Bungie for copyright infringement after they say the studio copied his writing in order to develop the story for Destiny 2.
In the lawsuit filed on October 2 (first reported by The Game Post), Kelsey Martineau, an author based out of Louisiana in the United States, says Destiny 2’s Red War story features a number of elements from his work. Martineau, who goes by the pen name Caspar Cole, says his work was published in 2013 and 14, three years before the release of Destiny 2.
“Although Destiny 2 offers an immersive and thrilling gaming experience that keeps players on the edge of their seats, the game is based directly on Martineau’s source work,” the claim reads.
When listing out similarities between his story — also involving a group known as the Red Legion — Martineau claims that the characters throughout the stories “display very similar attitudes, histories, and mindsets”. In addition, it’s stated that “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,” it reads.
The lawsuit states that Bungie’s copying of Martineau’s work was “deliberate and intentional”. As such, he is demanding for a jury trial and is seeking damages for “copyright infringement and willful infringement”. The suit also requests that Bungie stop distributing any content related to the work along with an “accounting of any and all sales of products or services that infringe” on Martineau’s rights.
As of writing, Bungie has not commented on the lawsuit. If you want to read the full details of the 53-page lawsuit, you can below.
For more Insider Gaming, read our review of Undisputed. And don’t forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter.
Now a lawsuit after all the turmoil I swear Sony is just in trouble this gen. Heard Ghost Of Yotei could get delayed to 2026 and it has problems since it’s basically a PS4 game not true next gen and other problems not to mention Death Stranding 2 still seems like it’s farther away and a flop and they haven’t shown Venom yet. Their games seem to be in bad places rig he s now.
It isn’t news that bungie rips off most of their creative content. Starship troopers much?
honestly as much as I love to hate on bungo Kelsey might just be braindead, newsflash 99.99% of games movies, shows & books are all ripoffs/spinoffs of something else. should Lucas films sue Kelsey for infringing on theirs copyright because his books could be argued to follow the whole poopatine and Skywalker plot
I see. Seems like a good business decision from Microsoft to distance themselves from them. Can you imagine the media covering this story if Microsoft actually bought Bungie? Sheesh
Scholarly mentor to charismatic physically imposing conqueror is Ptolemy and Alexander the great, and red legion is a plain Jane name that their are two books besides yours incorporate directly into their title just from a quick google. Big, gun toting war criminal adversaries/allies is sci fi’s bread and butter.
I’ll give you that Bungie was less than creative in their Destiny 2’s opening antagonist, but Martineau isn’t exactly in a position to be throwing stones in that regard. More than a decade is a bit long to not notice someone outright ripping off your work, let alone doing it deliberately as he alleges.
I love haring on Bungie as much an anyone with more than 2 brain cells but this lawsuit is just cheap ploy by some unknown “writer” to get same fame
“The suit also requests that Bungie stop distributing any content related to the work” Should be pretty easy to accomplish. The campaign in question was removed from the game four years ago.
Normally, I’d be on an author’s side in this, but then I saw what was copied, and noticed that the plot described was so generic that anyone could come up with it. You don’t get to copyright tropes.
You can’t copyright a common trope, and the name “Red Legion” isn’t a privately owned named like Frodo Baggins, it’s two words in the English language. Neither Kelsey or Bungie are first the first to use the name either. There’s a Red Legion in 40k, there’s a sith Red Legion, heck the Red Legion was the name of a former Portuguese terrorist sect. Is he planning on suing all of them too?