Bungie has warned that its new anti-cheat software may have detrimental effects to Destiny 2’s performance, including the time it takes to start the game.
The developer and publisher added BattlEye to Destiny 2 yesterday (August 24), as part of the game’s 3.3.0 update.
In a statement, Bungie said the software was added “to boost our anti-cheat security and enable us to detect more active cheats.”
While the move may be welcomed by players who are tired of having their in-game experience ruined by cheats, the trade-off is seemingly a hit to Destiny 2’s overall performance.
“Anti-cheat solutions require some additional system resources to keep watch and you may see some reduction in frames and performance after Update 3.3.0 goes live,” Bungie said. “The new service will also increase the initial startup of the game. BattlEye’s driver only runs while Destiny runs. It doesn’t stick around outside of that.”
Players may also experience some compatibility issues with other software, which BattlEye will block.
“Some software is incompatible with BattlEye but will not cause bans,” Bungie explained. “BattlEye may block the software, and prevent you from starting Destiny while the software runs, or kick you from the game (temporarily) if it detects the software after Destiny launches.”
Although Bungie doesn’t specify which software packages this includes, it does point to BattlEye’s own FAQ – which also doesn’t specify which pieces of software it blocks.
Even with the addition of BattlEye, Bungie says its efforts to stamp out cheating in-game is an ongoing process. “We want to be clear that this is not a silver bullet fix that will end all cheating in Destiny forever,” it said. “This is another step in our strategy to combat cheats and improve our detection and banning methods.”
Other new measures that Bungie is investigating to cut down on cheating include legal actions against cheat makers, and targeting players for bans who engage in “win trading” – which Bungie defines as “intentionally granting other players wins in PvP activities” – and giving others access to your account.
The efficacy of BattlEye is currently being tested “at scale”, and Bungie said it has not activated the software’s ability to auto-ban players yet. However, it added that “once we are satisfied with the results, we will allow it to automatically issue bans without a manual review sometime before Trials of Osiris goes live on September 10.”
Destiny 2’s Trials of Osiris are competitive multiplayer events with an unfortunate reputation for attracting cheats.
The addition of BattlEye also comes ahead of Destiny 2’s next expansion, The Witch Queen, due for release in February 2022. That should give players and Bungie alike time to evaluate the impact of the anti-cheat tech on the game.
Elsewhere, Activision’s own anti-cheat efforts appear to have levelled up, with a new system for Call of Duty: Warzone that seems to ban player’s consoles rather than just their accounts.
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