Destiny 2 players across CIS countries report that they’ve been locked out of the game with no notice or warning after a week of TAPIR errors. Bungie now says access is “restricted by law.”
Two weeks ago, Bungie rolled out Ash & Iron, the first major update for Destiny 2’s Year of Prophecy. It added a new Reclaim activity, with new weapons and armor, some of which caused a huge controversy around the Eververse store and Iron Banner mode.
Later this week, the Epic version of The Desert Perpetual raid kicks off with a World First race on Saturday, September 27, at 10 AM PT. Along with that, there’s also a brand-new exotic mission called Warsat Heist, set to go live next month.
While all of that is rolling, another story has been unfolding in the background. Over the past week, players across several countries say they’ve been completely locked out of Destiny 2 thanks to a persistent TAPIR error code. And now, Bungie has started responding to these complaints with a short message that’s raising even more questions than it answers.
Destiny 2 Blocked in CIS Countries, Bungie Responds
Reports of the issue started surfacing around September 15, when Destiny 2 players from countries like Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan began posting about being unable to log in. The game would fail to connect to Destiny’s servers and show a TAPIR error code. Bungie has historically used TAPIR to indicate service interruptions, usually during maintenance. But this time, there was no scheduled maintenance, and the errors didn’t go away.
Over the next few days, dozens of threads flooded Bungie’s official forums, all reporting the same problem: Destiny 2 was simply not letting them connect. The issue wasn’t tied to one platform; players on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox were all affected. And while some players said they found limited workarounds using VPNs or changing DNS settings, others reported that even those methods failed, especially on Russian PlayStation accounts.
Early on, moderators told players the team was investigating the surge in TAPIR reports. Then, yesterday, September 24, Bungie finally began replying to forum threads with a short message: “Destiny services are not available where access is restricted by law.”
That single sentence has only fueled more frustration. Many players are now asking Bungie to name the specific law they’re referring to, one that supposedly prohibits access to Destiny 2 in multiple countries. But as of writing, Bungie has not published a clear statement, and the full list of affected countries by this geo-block.
It’s important to note that back in 2022, Bungie announced it was suspending all Destiny 2 sales in Russia and Belarus. “Starting today, we will be working with our partners to suspend all Destiny 2 sales and commerce in Russia and Belarus,” the devs said. “Players in these regions will still be able to play any Destiny 2 content they have already purchased and download the free game, but will no longer be able to purchase new content or Silver.”
Players have found temporary workarounds to bypass the shadow ban:
- On PC: Using a VPN only during the login phase works. Once authenticated, the VPN can be disconnected, and the game runs perfectly stable without disconnections.
- On Xbox: Simply changing the DNS servers resolves the problem.
- On PSN: Changing DNS only works for accounts not registered in Russia. Russian PSN accounts still cannot connect.
The backlash in the forums hasn’t slowed down. While some players tried to troubleshoot with network logs and VPN settings, others voiced their disappointment in emotional posts, sharing how they’d invested years and hundreds of dollars into the game, only to be shut out without warning.
One player wrote, “Instead of a simple suspension, an entire player base seems to have been wiped out of the game, with no explanation. To have that taken away without proper communication feels like a slap in the face.”
Some even noted that Destiny 1 is still playable, which they believe undermines Bungie’s claim that the block is due to laws in their countries. “The fact that Destiny 1 is still working makes such an explanation as ‘the law’ even more ridiculous,” another player wrote.
The countries reportedly affected by this restriction include Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan. Players in Iran and Afghanistan have also reported encountering the same TAPIR error, suggesting the block may extend beyond just CIS territories.
As for the “law” mentioned in Bungie’s reply, the company hasn’t named a specific statute. There’s still no detailed public statement from the devs about the scope of the block, a country list, or refund/entitlement guidance for affected players. The only official line remains the one posted on the forums. For many players in affected regions, that’s not nearly enough clarity.
We’ll update this story if there’s any new information or an official statement from Bungie.
What do you think of Bungie’s response here? Should players who already paid for the game have been given more notice, or at least more transparency, before losing access? Let us know your thoughts below.
