One less lawsuit for Bungie to deal with, as the long-running dispute over the origins of the Red War campaign storyline ends in an out-of-court settlement.

Bungie has reached a settlement with Matthew Kelsey Martineau, the author who sued the studio last year claiming that the Destiny 2 Red War campaign and the Red Legion storyline were based on his original work published on WordPress between 2013 and 2014. Bungie requested the case be dismissed, arguing that Martineau failed to convincingly prove that any original elements were copied or that the referenced materials were legally similar.

Judge Susie Morgan, however, declined to dismiss the case, citing Bungie’s inability to provide direct evidence from the now-unavailable Red War content. The company’s attempt to rely on YouTube gameplay videos and fan-made wiki pages was not accepted by the court.

As a result, the case entered the discovery phase, giving Martineau the opportunity to expand his claims. Eventually, both sides engaged in settlement talks before the judge, and all claims were resolved. The public filing does not include any information about monetary compensation or other terms of the agreement.

The case is considered closed unless either party files to reopen it within the next 60 days. For Bungie, it means one less legal headache while it struggles to recover from reportedly weak Destiny 2 sales figures.

Source: WCCFTech, Gamesindustry, The Game Post