Bungie Explains ‘Destiny 2’ PC Bans, 400 Players Banned For Cheating In First Day
Bans handed out to Destiny 2 PC players turned into a hot topic of conversation late Tuesday and Wednesday. Complaints streamed in blaming Bungie for unfair bans based on owners using third-party applications like streaming tools and overlays. The developer just reiterated it does not issue bans based on third-party applications and added that those banished were indeed caught cheating.
Bungie shared a news article to its official site explaining that Destiny 2 will not ban users automatically. A member of the development team has to first manually investigate a player suspected of cheating before action can be taken. There’s no word on how many players were investigated following the launch of the game, but the studio does confirm it banned approximately 400 PC players alone.
To add further clarification, Bungie states bans were only given to Destiny 2 players “who were using tools that pose a threat to the shared ecosystem of the game” and that no players were banned for using streaming, overlay, or performance monitoring tools like Discord, Xsplit, Open Broadcast Software, MSI Afterburner, FRAPS, and others.
Interestingly, the studio does state it is overturning four bans that were handed out during the Destiny 2 PC beta.
The Destiny 2 development team was forced into addressing the initial wave of bans following a flood of comments in the game’s official forums and the Destiny subreddit. These kinds of comments have not been uncommon over the past three years when Bungie has dropped the banhammer on the PlayStation and Xbox consoles. This wave of bans was different, though, as Destiny 2 just launched on the PC and some users claimed they were being banned within minutes of starting the game for the first time.
On the other hand, the PC platform is a veritable smorgasbord of cheating, and a mere 400 bans in a single day seems quaint when compared to the current popular PC monster that is PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. BattlEye, the anti-cheat service utilized by the battle royale shooter, claims it currently bans 6,000 to 13,000 PUBG cheaters a day, with the vast majority coming from China.
Cheating is a serious issue for PC game developers and one that is a constant fight in adjusting to tactics used by cheating software creators. That fight can sometimes lead to the courtroom, as seen in Epic Games’ recent lawsuit against Fortnite: Battle Royale cheat makers.
What do you think of Bungie’s efforts to stop cheating in Destiny 2? Sound off in the comments below.
[Featured Image by Bungie/Activision]
