Bungie says Destiny 2’s vaulted Red War campaign can’t be accessed even internally, making a return unlikely.
Bungie has made it clear in new court filings that the original Destiny 2 “Red War” campaign isn’t just gone for players, it apparently no longer exists in a playable form within the studio itself. The company says the game’s original story mode, which was removed in 2020, is now completely inaccessible.
This came to light as part of an ongoing copyright lawsuit filed against Bungie by writer Matthew Kelsey Martineau, who claims that Bungie copied elements of his unpublished works to create the Red War storyline.
Martineau alleges that Bungie lifted key ideas, characters, and themes from his work, including a faction called the “Red Legion” and a plot that involves an exiled warrior trying to take control of a powerful celestial object orbiting Earth.
Bungie has denied these claims, calling them baseless and asking the court to dismiss the case. But as part of its defense, Bungie also dropped a detail that Destiny 2 fans may find disappointing, it says the Red War campaign no longer exists in any playable form, even within the studio itself, which is why the developer used third-party community-created content as evidence in its court filing.
“Bungie’s motion does not involve a direct comparison between Martineau’s work and the infringing Destiny 2 work,” Martineau’s response reads. “Instead, Bungie’s Motion is based on a comparison between Martineau’s work and fan-made derivative works created by third parties – not the actual Destiny 2 game.”
Destiny 2’s Red War Campaign is Probably Not Returning Anytime Soon
In a new filing submitted this week on Tuesday, February 24, 2025, Bungie responded to Martineau’s arguments and made a statement about Destiny 2’s content vaulting. Bungie’s Head of Engineering, David Aldridge, stated under oath that the original Red War campaign was removed from the game in 2020 and that it is now impossible to access in any playable form.
According to Aldridge, while Bungie did archive the original game code, the rapid evolution of Destiny 2’s underlying technology means that the Red War campaign is completely incompatible with the “game’s current operational framework.” Even if Bungie wanted to bring it back, it would probably have to be rebuilt from scratch rather than simply reactivated.
“In November 2020, the original ‘Red War’ campaign was retired from Destiny 2, such that it was, and remains, no longer accessible,” Aldridge explained in the filing. “Before this suit, Bungie archived the original code that comprised the ‘Red War’ campaign (known as a ‘legacy build’).
“However, the ‘Red War’ legacy build can no longer run because its outdated code is incompatible with Destiny 2’s evolved underlying operational framework, which has evolved considerably since the ‘Red War’ campaign was retired.
“As a result, Bungie cannot feasibly provide the Court with the original Destiny 2 game as it existed in 2017, including the accused ‘Red War’ campaign, in any operable or reviewable form. Nor will Bungie be able to produce the original, accused campaign in operable or reviewable form should this matter proceed to formal discovery.”
Read Aldridge’s full Declaration document here.
This statement also applies to all other vaulted content before Beyond Light, meaning fan-favorite activities like the Leviathan raid and old strikes likely suffer the same fate. Bungie has consistently said that bringing back vaulted content would be difficult.
For longtime Destiny 2 fans, this is probably disappointing news. Over the years, players have repeatedly asked Bungie to unvault older content, including the Red War campaign, which introduced Destiny 2’s story and many of its key characters.
The Leviathan raid, which was widely considered one of the best raids in the game, has also been frequently requested. Bungie’s latest filing strongly suggests that these things aren’t coming back, not because Bungie doesn’t want to, but because it would require a ton of resources to recreate everything from the ground up.
Bungie is still pushing for the case to be dismissed, arguing that Martineau’s claims don’t hold up legally. The studio has pushed back hard against these claims, arguing that Martineau hasn’t provided direct evidence that anyone at Bungie even saw his work, let alone copied it. It also argues that most of the alleged similarities are just common sci-fi tropes that aren’t protected by copyright.
Martineau’s latest court filing insists that Bungie’s legal team is trying to shut down his claims before they can even be properly examined. He argues that the similarities between his work and Destiny 2 are too specific to be a coincidence and that Bungie should be forced to go through the discovery process, which would likely require the developer to hand over internal documents and communications about Red War’s development.
You can read the full 14-page document here.
Bungie Explains Why There's No "Feasible" Way To Access Destiny 2’s Vaulted Red War Campaign Even Internall… by TheGamePost on Scribd
