Bungie has banned 400 Destiny 2 players on PC, but some of them have been overturned

Update: Last night, after a day of confusion over a slew of Destiny 2 bans, Bungie clarified a few things. The developer said that around 400 players were banned on PC for using tools that were a “threat to the shared ecosystem of the game”, which implies tools used to cheat or harass other players, though no specifics were offered.

These bans did not happen automatically, however. Bans happen after Bungie manually investigates a players. Reiterating an earlier tweet, Bungie also noted that using Discord overlays and other third-party applications would not result in a ban.

Despite this, the developer admitted that some bans were erroneous. Four bans made during the beta have been overturned, and in an update to the statement, Bungie explained that another group of players -- no numbers -- were also banned by mistake.

“As part of our ban review process, we have identified a group of players who were banned in error,” the update reads. “Those players have been unbanned. The bans were not related to the third-party applications listed above. We will continue to review the process we use to ensure a fun and fair game.”

Original story: Destiny 2 finally launched on PC last night -- it’s quite good -- and the ban hammer has already come down on a multitude of Guardians. By their droves, players have been complaining of unexpected bans, and many of them cite third party applications as the reason for why they can no longer play the game. Bungie denies this.

Capture programmes like OBS, or applications that add an overlay, are blocked by Destiny 2 out of fears that they could interfere with the game’s code. That’s why you’re probably frustrated about not being able to take screenshots. But apps being blocked is very different from users being banned, and Bungie has confirmed that it doesn’t ban people for using them. “That’s internet BS,” said the PC project lead.

This doesn’t explain what’s actually causing the bans, however, and players have been left baffled. Worse, these are not temporary bans, which Bungie calls “account or device restriction”. They’re permanent. “If a player receives a message that references an account or device ban,” the Destiny 2 help article reads, “They have permanently lost access to the activities indicated in the ban message.”

A few people complaining about unwarranted bans is par for the course, and should be taken with a grain of salt, but it seems like too many people have been affected for this to be a typical punishment for breaking the game’s terms of service.

We’ve reached out to Bungie and Activision for more information, and if you’ve been hit with a ban, let us know in the comments.