The gaming world is not free from shadows, and in Destiny 2, it is cheaters who are currently ruining the gaming experience for many. Already now, the motivation of PvP players is noticeably declining. Just recently, the science fiction shooter “The Cycle: Frontier” lost its battle against the plague of cheaters. And Bungie could also be threatened if something doesn’t happen soon.
What happened to “The Cycle: Frontier”? In 2022, the free-to-play extraction shooter “The Cycle: Frontier” was released by the Berlin-based developer Yager. Players enjoyed the game and even praised the solid gunplay as well as the balance of risk and reward.
But already on September 27, 2023, the servers of the shooter will be shut down forever, and after that, “The Cycle” will no longer be playable.
In a statement, the studio shared its reasons for the discontinuation of the game.
- On one hand, the success was not enough to make “The Cycle: Frontier” financially viable.
- However, it was probably mainly the increasing number of cheaters that led players to no longer want to play the shooter and turn their backs on it.
The developers of “The Cycle: Frontier” tried to counteract this and implemented further anti-cheat measures. But the damage was already done. Players lost faith in the game, the PvP community fell apart, and the developers found themselves forced to discontinue “The Cycle: Frontier”.
I see clear parallels to Destiny 2 here. Even if the two games are not comparable in size and concept. In both games, cheaters have spread like a swarm of locusts and are destroying fair competition.
The fate of Destiny 2’s PvP is at stake
The first effects are already noticeable: The cheater problem is already having an impact on the Destiny 2 community.
In the Crucible, you experience daily that even the most committed PvP players are increasingly throwing in the towel and no longer want to engage with obvious cheaters in Iron Banner, Trials, or for division ranks.
These are exactly the players who see PvP as their main motivation for playing, and play Destiny 2 even when nothing is happening in PvE for a long time. They are frustrated and are losing the motivation to stay active.
For them, Destiny 2 loses a crucial part of its appeal without a fair and enjoyable PvP experience, and thus a vicious cycle emerges.
- The more cheaters appear, the more players lose the desire to face the unfair competition.
- This leads to a dwindling player base and a negative spiral that is increasingly difficult to break.
The concern that this problem will continue to worsen and could lead to the game’s decline is already in the air.
Anti-cheat measures are not effective or take too long
Bungie is certainly not inactive: As the developer reported in a lawsuit against the cheat provider VeteranCheats, Bungie has invested over $2 million in its anti-cheat measures to protect Destiny 2 and its competitive environment.
- This includes internal measures for cheat detection and the use of various anti-cheat software, including BattlEye.
And outside the game, the developer has also taken the legal battle against other cheat providers. Here, one after another, they are being hit with millions in damages.
At the same time, it is also of great importance for Bungie that the Guardians take their role in the fight against cheaters seriously by reporting suspicious incidents.
The only problem is that players currently do not feel that all these anti-cheat measures are effective enough in the game. While they often receive positive feedback that cheaters have been banned due to reports, it still seems to be getting worse.
So bad that even well-known streamers are extremely annoyed, like GernaderJake who tweeted:
“Losing a perfect game for the third time against cheaters HURTS. In this clip, I am passionately angry and may go a bit too far, but I still think this needs to be said.”
writes the dedicated PvP streamer GernaderJake via Twitter
That is why I say: The fate of PvP in Destiny 2 is at stake if the fight against cheaters is lost.
The declining motivation of players to play PvP, as well as concerns about a fair gaming experience should be a warning signal for Bungie. Because the same thing is already happening as with “The Cycle: Frontier”, only this downward spiral is taking place in Destiny 2 much more slowly.
But I am also interested in your experiences. What effects have cheaters had on your gaming experience? Do you report cheats in-game and do you think it is getting worse? Or has nothing changed for you? Do you believe that the current measures from Bungie are sufficient to keep the fraudsters tolerably at bay? Please feel free to share your opinion in the comments.
