Bungie Explains How That Destiny 2 "Hate And Intolerance" Symbol Made It Into The Game

Earlier this week, it came to light that an armor piece in Destiny 2 shared a resemblance with a "hate symbol." Bungie swiftly apologised and removed the armor piece from the game (and the UI icon and preview screens are getting scrubbed next week). Now, the studio has shared some insight into how it happened, how the studio didn't find it sooner, and what steps the team is taking to make sure it does not happen again.

So how did it happen? The offending design was created in June 2015, Bungie said in its blog post. It came about as a result of Bungie's practice of referencing real-world art and other design elements. The item in question is believed to be the Kekistan flag, which itself is is inspired by Nazi imagery.

And how did Bungie not catch this before launch? A team at Bungie that reviews content for cultural, geographical and other sensitive issues flagged the item, but at the time the review only covered the symbol's connection to the "kek" meme, before it was apparently repurposed to me more hate-minded.

"The more contemporary, vile derivation that has been repurposed by hate groups was not surfaced through this process, and therefore, the armor was approved for ship," Bungie said.

Bungie of course does not want this to happen again. The studio is currently going over best practices to "more deeply vet" game content to prevent "inappropriate imagery" from appearing in content in the future. "Though we are still investigating our creative process in full, we know there was no degree of malicious intent from anyone on our team," Bungie said. "That said, we do recognize that the design in question is close enough to warrant removal from the game."

Bungie added: "We want everyone to know their identity is welcome in our studio and in the worlds we create. This isn't merely a platitude, but an official pillar we hold ourselves, and our work to. It is also a clarion call for the type of people we want to bring into our studio to help us make better games."

"We aren't asking you for the benefit of the doubt. We know we are judged by our actions. We want to thank the members of our community, and the press, for bringing this matter to our attention. We will always strive to make all players feel welcome in our worlds, to promote positive experiences, and to portray a bright and hopeful world in Destiny 2, and in every game world we create."

In other Destiny 2 news, Bungie has released the first teaser trailer for the Trials of the Nine Crucible event, which kicks off later this week--watch it here.