Bungie has doubled down on its accusations against the increasingly infamous Destiny 2 leaker, going so far as to say it has "irrefutable evidence" confirming who is responsible for the leaks. Since Bungie first publicly commented on the subject, the alleged leaker has vocally proclaimed their own innocence. Destiny 2 players have, in turn, questioned whether Bungie acted hastily. The latest official statement makes clear Bungie has absolute confidence in its decision.This past week, Bungie issued a statement on Twitter regarding community interaction and engagement. It mentioned Bungie inviting content creators to private, confidential events, and how "breaches of trust" could force these events to be discontinued. It did not explicitly mention any leaks or a leaker, but the statement coincided with prominent Destiny 2 player and streamer Ekuegan being banned from the game. Ekuegan has since confirmed Bungie believes he is the leaker, but has aggressively counterclaimed he has been "framed." Following a weekend of Ekuegan claiming he did not leak any Destiny 2 content and that Bungie was wrong, as well as increasing support within the Destiny 2 community and media, Bungie decided to issue another statement. While yet again avoiding any mention of specific names or incidents, Bungie stated that both its security and legal teams, "reviewed irrefutable evidence, including video recordings, verified messages, and images demonstrating a pattern... Spanning multiple years." In other words, Bungie is making clear that it did not reach its decision by accident. It is entirely confident it found the leaker and punished the correct individual.
While Bungie does not get any more specific, the differences between the two statements are significant. The first statement is very ambiguous and leaves a lot up to the Destiny 2 community to figure out on its own. Unsurprisingly, the Destiny 2 community hoped a mistake had been made. Bungie's second statement made clear no such mistake has been made, delivering a more concrete resolution even without naming names.
Some have questioned why Bungie didn't follow through on the Destiny 2 leaks legally, especially if it was so confident. There are even some who believe that without a legal resolution Bungie is in the wrong. But there are many reasons Bungie wouldn't do so. A legal case would be expensive, for one. It would also build up the controversy to a much larger degree. It's also possible Bungie is even looking out for the leaker. A massive civil suit from Bungie could ruin the leaker's life, even beyond being banned from the game they built their career around.
In the end, what's important to remember is that this is a bad situation for all parties involved. Bungie has had major announcements leaked for years, and the alleged leaker has had their Destiny 2 career ended. Here's hoping all parties can move forward, even if the full truth of the situation is never shared publicly.
Destiny 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.