It's official: Bungie announced that Destiny 2 is partnering with anti-cheat service Battleye for a "soft launch" next season. The company took to Twitter to confirm the new measure against cheaters and told players to tune in for more info at the upcoming Destiny 2 showcase on August 24, which coincides with the launch of Season 15.
Prior to the announcement from Destiny 2's Twitter account, leaked screenshots of Destiny 2 support pages mentioning Battleye were circulating online. The Verge's Tom Warren also seemed to confirm the rumors, leading players to be even more certain that Destiny 2 devs are taking action to implement a more effective way to catch cheaters than the game's currently beleaguered in-game reporting.
Our partnership with BattlEye will soft launch next Season. Just another step toward a level playing field for all.
Learn more on 8/24: https://t.co/P3UimOS4vk pic.twitter.com/vyrPp8yU57
— Destiny 2 (@DestinyTheGame) August 19, 2021
Battleye is an anti-cheat service active in a lot of other popular games, like Fortnite and Rainbow Six Siege. When the soft launch occurs, players will likely need to download the Battleye software that will run alongside Destiny 2.
Destiny 2 has suffered from an increased amount of cheating, with Bungie reporting in 2020 a 50% rise in cheaters from the previous year. Most of the cheating comes from the PC side of things and is heavily prevalent in competitive endgame content like the Trials of Osiris.
In a statement to Polygon, Bungie emphasized the current actions it is taking towards reducing cheating. "We also filed three lawsuits against cheat makers [on Wednesday]--Lavicheats, Veterancheats, and Wallhax aka EliteBossTech, in addition to existing litigation against Ring-1 and Aimjunkies, so we’re taking steps internally and externally to try and level the playing field for our players," a Bungie spokesperson said.
To find out more about the Battleye integration, players can catch the Destiny showcase on August 24. While the next Destiny 2 expansion The Witch Queen won't be out until 2022, the showcase will likely tease new info like which locations are getting vaulted.