Bungie Continues Anti-Cheating Crack Down as It Targets Third-Party Peripherals

Destiny 2 developer Bungie has revealed a hardened policy designed to deal with cheaters who use third party peripherals that “manipulate the game” to provide an unfair player versus player advantage.

“Our community has grown increasingly frustrated by a form of cheating that uses third-party peripherals with the intent to manipulate the game client,” read a post on the Bungie website spotted by GI.biz “These devices are plugged into a computer or console, where they can, for example, execute simple scripts or trick the game into giving you extra aim assist.”

Bungie made a point of not naming the creators of the offending hardware, but stressed that it would hand out restrictions, warnings, and bans to individuals who use “external aids” specifically designed to “gain an advantage over other players”.

These aids include “programmable controllers, keyboard and mouse adapters, advanced macros, or automation via artificial intelligence” that improve a players ability to control the game by, for example, reducing weapon recoil or increasing aim assist.

However, the Destiny 2 developer stressed that it’s trying to balance protecting its community from cheaters while making sure that the maximum amount of people can play the game. To this end the policy notes that “simply using an accessibility aide to play Destiny 2 where a player could not play otherwise” would not be a violation of the policy.

Bungie often takes a hard stance with Destiny 2 cheat peddlers. Back in 2022 the developer won a legal battle against the company Elite Boss Tech for developing cheat codes for the game, forcing it to stop creating the software and to pay out an eye watering $13.5 million in damages.

Later in 2023 Bungie won another $4,396,322 from cheat makers AimJunkies, who were responsible for creating and selling aimbots for use in Destiny 2. The developer has since filed yet another lawsuit, this time against the company LaviCheats, in which it is pursuing $6.7 million in damages.

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer