Bungie apologises for unintentionally including Nazi slogan in Destiny 2

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The developer will remove the reference in an upcoming patch.

Warmind Cells
(Image credit: Bungie)

Bungie has issued an apology to fans, after it was discovered one of Destiny 2's latest weekly challenges shared its name with an infamous Nazi slogan.

As reported by Kotaku, a Season of the Chosen weekly challenge raised eyebrows in the game's community. The latest season focuses on the warlike Cabal, meaning there's plenty of stoic, warrior language surrounding the game's challenges and events—though some fans felt one example skewed disconcertingly close to real-world fascism. 

Complete eight war table bounties, and Destiny 2 will reward you with an powerful engram for completing the challenge "Blood And Honour"—a title that also happens to be the English translation of one of the slogans used by Nazi Germany's Hitler Youth, "Blut und Ehre".

While this was very likely a case of a developer simply missing the connotation, its placement alongside an event named "Battlegrounds: Cleansing"—in which you loot chests using Cabal Gold—only raised further alarm bells for some players. Bungie has since apologised in a statement to Kotaku, pledging to remove the terminology in an update. 

"Any connection to anti-Semitism in Destiny is completely unintentional. Bungie is emphatically committed to inclusion and human rights, and will never stand for anti-Semitism. We are already preparing fixes in an upcoming patch. We apologize to all of our players that were hurt by the references, and we are grateful to our community for bringing their concerns to our attention."

This isn't the first time Bungie has brushed dangerously close to reactionary terms. An early piece of Destiny 2 armour featured elements of a popular alt-right hate symbol, but was swiftly removed before the wider audience took notice.

Natalie Clayton
Natalie Clayton
Features Producer

20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.