Destiny 2 developer Bungie wins a large sum of money in a lawsuit against a player who repeatedly threatened and harassed its employee.
Destiny 2 developer Bungie has won a lawsuit against a player who repeatedly threatened and harassed a Bungie employee. The well-known developer has been awarded nearly $500,000 in damages from the malicious player, who targeted a Destiny 2 community manager and his wife as a result of the manager highlighting the artwork of a Black Destiny 2 community member.
Bungie's sprawling sci-fi shooter Destiny 2 was first released in 2017, with the ever-popular live service title regularly receiving new content and expansions for players to complete ever since. The game's current season is called Season of the Deep, where Guardians are tasked with diving into the depths of the methane ocean on the Saturn moon of Titan after traveling there to investigate a distress call. While the majority of the season has concluded, Destiny 2's newest Exotic is causing problems for many, with players complaining the quest requirements are making it difficult to enjoy the acquisition process.
The lawsuit judgment was issued by default, as defendant Jesse James Comer failed to appear in the superior court of the state of Washington, where the case was heard. Comer began a "racist, stochastic terrorism" campaign of threats and harassment at the Bungie employee after highlighting a Black Destiny 2 community member's art contributions as part of an initiative. Comer proceeded to leave "hideous" voicemails on his and his wife's personal phones, repeatedly asking for in-game options that would only allow persons of color to be killed, all while using the fake name of Clay Bramston.
Comer took things even further, sending a "virtually inedible" pizza to the employee's home, calling his wife after tracking the delivery and telling her to "enjoy the pizza," establishing he knew where they lived. In response, Bungie contacted local police to send out "executive protection" and investigators to discover Comer's identity and receive a restraining order against him. The judgment also orders Comer to not contact any Bungie employee whatsoever, nor is he allowed to harass any Destiny 2 community member. Community toxicity is unfortunately prevalent though, with Bungie closing comments on a Destiny 2 YouTube video due to harassment.
Kathryn Tewson, a paralegal for the prosecution team, tweeted out a portion of the ruling's documents, which includes a new common law making it easier for studios to go after harassers and cheaters.
But the really exciting news comes in at the end. In addition to finding that Washington employers can recover for damages for harassment of their employees under standard torts like nuisance and invasion of privacy, the Court also held that it would recognize A NEW TORT. pic.twitter.com/XB4bTJFyFV
— Kathryn Tewson (@KathrynTewson) July 12, 2023
While Comer now owes quite a bit of money to Bungie, another Destiny 2 player owes much, much more. Ruled on a few months ago, Romanian national Mihai Claudiu-Florentin owes the developer an astounding $12 million in damages for losing a lawsuit regarding Destiny 2 cheat software. The software, which Claudiu-Florentin developed, enabled Destiny 2 players to cheat with things like aim improvement and seeing through walls.
Bungie does not mess around when it comes to protecting Destiny 2, whether it be the employees or the game itself. The developer also won another lawsuit earlier this year, winning a massive $4.3 million in arbitration against a Destiny 2 cheat creator. If Bungie has made anything clear, it's to never mess with their games, or their employees.
Destiny 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
