Bungie hasn’t been shy about deleting older content from Destiny 2 (a process it calls “vaulting”) in order to make room for new stuff, but it appears this controversial practice had some unintended consequences. As part of a lawsuit filed against them, Bungie had to cite fan videos from YouTube, because the content in question is no longer part of the game.
Per Game File, a sci-fi writer named Matthew Kelsey Martineau filed a lawsuit against Bungie last year, alleging that an enemy faction called the Red Legion was plagiarized from the author’s WordPress writing. In its response, Bungie dismissed the claims as baseless, but the company’s counsel was forced to cite fan YouTube compilations of cutscenes and gameplay from the vaulted original campaign of Destiny 2 in order to make their case. While the publisher would normally be able to simply submit a copy of the game as an exhibit, that’s not possible here for obvious reasons.
“Because (1) Destiny 2’s narrative is only available to players in the form of a live-service video game that has changed significantly over time, and (2) physical copies of Destiny 2, and any 2017 version of Destiny 2, are no longer available, the attached videos are the best possible way for the Court to review the accused work,” reads the explanation given to the Court in part. In lieu of this, Bungie linked two videos, including a ten hour “complete story of Destiny” compilation from YouTuber My Name is Byf.
It’s been some time since Bungie last vaulted content, although it has progressively reintroduced certain key content, including raids, that were rendered unplayable for an extended period of time.
There’s still no word on the outcome of the lawsuit.
