Destiny 2’s long-awaited PC launch has arrived, which means a large swath of new Guardians are making their way into Bungie’s shared world. Well, they are trying to, at least. Reports are coming in that users are being banned en masse — often right after launching the game. Worse yet, the reason for the ban is entirely unclear.
Both Bungie’s forums and Reddit are littered with confused messages from new PC players. There were initial fears that third-party applications, like overlays, running alongside the game triggered the ban. According to a response from Bungie community rep Cozmo, that’s not the case.
“Third-party applications that aren’t compatible with Destiny 2 may cause the game to not run but won’t result in a ban,” Cozmo wrote, and followed by providing a link to a Bungie help article listing examples of incompatible software.
So, if it’s not the use of third-party applications — such as one forum poster’s claim about having GeForce open when launching — that is causing these bans, what is? The logical answer would be that these users are getting flagged by anti-cheat software given that the bans are frequently doled out before a player even has a chance to choose their character class.
The only problem with this logic is that the widespread nature of these bans and the confusion from those who received them suggests that perhaps something else is going on here. Bungie’s anti-cheat software could be inadvertently flagging accounts, or maybe it’s something else entirely.
While not being able to play the game at launch is understandably disappointing, not providing a reason for the ban makes the experience sting a bit more.
On one Bungie forum post, the forum moderator marked a rather ominous response to a banned user as the correct answer. “In Destiny there are account restriction and bans. Restrictions are only temporary but must be waited out while bans are permanent. Please note that Bungie will not discuss or overturn account restrictions or bans.” Bungie’s official help page detailing restrictions and bans backs up that claim.
It’s hard to imagine that Bungie won’t provide a clear reason for the affected players, but as of now, everyone is pretty much in the dark.
