After gathering data and hinting at action for some time, Destiny 2 developer Bungie will begin to monitor and punish players who use third-party aides to gain an unfair advantage, and bans aren’t out of the question either.
In their weekly update, posted on April 14, Bungie announced it would be entering its “villain arc” in its stance on the use of these devices, noting the community had grown “increasingly frustrated” by players using accessibility tools to cheat.
While the Destiny devs opted out of naming certain devices, it is understood XIM and Cronus—adaptors that allow mice and keyboards to be recognized as controllers—were of particular focus. These devices, whilst providing an accessibility option to players, were otherwise used to obtain the benefits of console auto-aim on mice and keyboards.
The impact these devices have had on PvP has been noticeable, but Bungie was quick to include such impacts upon PvE activities, stating players were expected to “experience the game designers [had] intended.”
Bungie’s announcement was met with praise from the Destiny community, but also concern that devices such as custom controllers would be falsely flagged by Bungie’s new stance. The developer quickly confirmed such controllers would be legal and accepted, provided “no definitive evidence of abusing game mechanics” was at play.
Bungie isn’t the first developer pushing to ban users abusing such devices. For Rainbow Six: Siege’s year eight update in Feb. 2023, Ubisoft announced measures to combat third-party inputs—not long after an almost 20,000-player ban wave.
Just last week, Activision also took action against players abusing third-party hardware in Call of Duty, particularly in Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2. Users found breaching the rules will be warned, with consequences ramping up to bans should the player continue breaching the rule.
Bungie did not confirm when its planned crackdown would begin.
Published: Apr 14, 2023 12:16 am