Bungie responds to Buffalo shooting by committing to charity donations

Bungie is taking action following the mass shooting that took place in Buffalo, NY on May 14. The Destiny 2 developer shared on its official website that all profits from the company’s Black Lives Matter “Be Heard” pin will be donated to charity for at least one year. This is in collaboration with Bungie’s Black at Bungie inclusion club. The profits will be donated to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a charity whose “work includes monitoring hate groups and other extremists throughout the United States and exposing their activities to the public, the media, and law enforcement.”

The “Be Heard” pin isn’t a new inclusion to the Bungie Store, but on top of purchasing it, Destiny 2 players will also receive a player banner in-game that is inspired by the pin. The shooting in Buffalo was motivated by white supremacy and bigotry. The shooter, Payton S. Gendron, traveled hours away from home to commit the crime of killing ten people, all of whom were Black. Three others were also injured during the shooting.

It was later learned that both Twitch and Discord were indirectly connected with the shooting as Gendron streamed on Twitch for two minutes before the platform flagged it down. He also used a private Discord server to plan the attack. Discord later made a statement to The New York Times saying “We extend our deepest sympathies to the victims and their families, and we will do everything we can to assist law enforcement in the investigation.”

This isn’t near the first time that Bungie has spoken up again ongoing issues in the United States or around the world. The company most recently spoke up against the Supreme Court’s tentative decision to overturn Roe v. Wade making it so that abortion rights are decided by the states in the U.S. instead of a federal ruling.

Bungie is currently in the process of being acquired by Sony. However, studios that are already under the PlayStation umbrella have been expressly told that they are not allowed to make any public stances regarding the topic. Last week, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan sent an email to all internal staff requesting employees to “respect all opinions” on abortion.