Luca Leone, a player of Destiny 2, is the target of a multi-million dollar lawsuit brought by Bungie for cheating, eluding restrictions, and menacing studio personnel:
He once impliedly threatened to “commit arson” at Bungie’s corporate headquarters by telling the studio to “keep your doors shut” at one time, for example.
However, a judgment handed down by the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario, Canada, in June makes clear how serious those threats were and how they went much beyond ordinary taunts and “quips.”
Unsettling new information about the nature of the attacks, which started earlier in June after Bungie staff members tweeted an advertisement for Destiny 2 featuring Twitch streamer Uhmaayyze, is included in the June 15 ruling, which required a company called TextNow to provide the real name of a user who had threatened Bungie.
According to Superior Court Justice Fred Myers, “briefly after [the Bungie post], multiple Bungie workers started getting voicemails and texts on personal, unlisted telephone lines repeatedly utilizing the racist epithet known as the ‘N-word.'”
On the owner’s phone line that evening, a caller identifying himself as “Brian” left a voicemail. Brian asked Destiny 2 to include a scene or downloadable content (DLC) for “N-word killing,” addressing the employee by name.
“A short while later, he called back and introduced himself as a user of a far-right social network notorious for disseminating content that is prohibited on mainstream social media. He reiterated his demand for Destiny 2’s “N-word slaying” DLC.”
Multiple voicemails with homophobic and racial epithets from the same number were left for another worker. That is horrifying, but the attacks against the specific Bungie worker became more blatant.
Using Leone’s phone, someone brought a pizza to the worker’s residence, demonstrating that they were aware of the employee’s and his partner’s addresses, and left a voicemail wishing them “enjoy your pizza.” Leone added a tweet with a picture of the worker’s Bungie ID and the words “is not safe.”