Teenager accused of cheating in Destiny 2 and harassing Bungie employees gets smacked with $500,000 permaban

(Image credit: Bungie)

A year ago, Bungie sued a Destiny 2 player over allegations of cheating at the game and harassing the studio's employees. Now, it seems that this player is going to have to pay $500,000 and will be permanently barred from ever playing a Bungie game again.

In a joint document dug up by TorrentFreak, lawyers representing the player - referred to here as 'L.L.' - and Bungie have come to an agreement on several matters. The document says that L.L. used cheat software in Destiny 2 "countless times," but puts out a nice round estimate of "at least 100 acts of circumvention," worth a $2,000 fine each. Add to that a $300,000 fine for copyright infringement, and you have a $500,000 total penalty.

The document notes that any other claims not specifically outlined here are being "withdrawn" by Bungie, including those allegations of harassment. While none of those allegations are part of the record here, there is a request to ensure L.L. does not "travel within 1000 feet of Bungie’s offices, or knowingly travel within 1000 feet of the known home address of any Bungie employee, except as is incidental to travel on public highways and roadways for purposes other than to make contact with or otherwise harass such."

In addition, L.L. is told to never again go about "obtaining, downloading, copying, playing, streaming, or otherwise interacting with Bungie’s games." Yes, this $500,000 permaban is so permanent it'll apply to Marathon and beyond.

It does not appear that the judge in the case has yet signed off on these orders, so it's possible that some details here may change before the case is fully closed. For now, it certainly looks like another in a line of Bungie legal victories against players accused of cheating and harassment.

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.