Bungie has dropped the banhammer on Destiny 2 players who cheated or ran with cheaters during the Desert Perpetual raid’s Contest Mode.
With the launch of the Edge of Fate expansion in Destiny 2 last month, Bungie added a brand-new raid to the game called “The Desert Perpetual.” Similar to previous ones, the raid opened with a special 48-hour Contest Mode that made it extra challenging, offering guaranteed rewards like the raid exotic weapon and an exclusive emblem.
After Bungie released the raid API data the following week, Destiny 2 player aquativityy took a closer look at the leaderboard and found a bunch of suspicious clears. Some fireteams had full clear times between 10 and 20 minutes, which raised eyebrows considering the world’s first completion took over 15 hours.
After going through the data, aquativityy flagged 64 out of the top 100 teams as likely having used cheats or exploit-based strategies to complete the raid.
Bungie quickly responded at the time, saying that it was investigating and made it clear: cheating during Contest Mode is a bannable offense, and so is benefiting from someone else cheating on your team. That warning is now a reality.
Bungie Confirms Ban Wave Following Destiny 2 Desert Perpetual Raid Cheating Controversy
Today, alongside the launch of the Solstice event, Bungie officially confirmed that it has issued a ban wave targeting players who cheated in the Desert Perpetual Contest Mode raid. The studio made the announcement on the official Destiny 2 Team social media accounts.
According to the post, this latest round of bans also includes players who didn’t cheat directly but still benefited from being on a fireteam with cheaters. So, even if you were just along for the ride and didn’t cheat, if your clear was helped by someone who did, you’re not off the hook.
Here’s the full statement from Bungie:
“We have issued a ban wave against fireteams who were found cheating during The Desert Perpetual Contest Mode,” the post reads. “This ban wave includes players who benefited from cheaters in their fireteam.
“Breaking our Community Code of Conduct — including cheating during contest difficulty or other activities — is a bannable offense, and players intentionally benefiting from cheating can also be subject to punishment.”
One thing Bungie didn’t mention is how many accounts were banned in this wave. We still don’t know the full scale of it, but this makes it clear that the dev team is taking raid integrity seriously, especially for Contest Mode clears.
What do you think about Bungie’s latest ban wave? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
