Destiny 2 on Steam Deck? Bungie says, “Dunno about that, champ.”
The Steam Deck has finally been released (in America). Not in Australia yet, but perhaps eventually. While the Steam Deck has plenty of games available, unfortunately, it looks like one very popular game is a big no-no. That game is Destiny 2.
According to a post on the Bungie Help website, the studio has put its foot down regarding Destiny 2 on the Steam Deck.
Destiny 2 is not supported for Steam Deck or any system utilizing Steam Play’s Proton unless Windows is installed and running.
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Players attempting to bypass Destiny 2 incompatibility will be met with a game ban https://t.co/3XKW4Kwfjl pic.twitter.com/wKRYtSsCx1— Wario64 (@Wario64) March 1, 2022
That’s right. Attempting to access Destiny 2 on the Steam Deck somehow? That’s a paddlin’. And by paddlin’, I mean a swift and complete account ban. But what could drive such a severe response? One Twitter user presents a reasonable theory: that Steam Play’s Proton has trouble with anti-cheat programs. The theory is that the anti-cheat platform may be unable to determine who is cheating and who is not, it may simply flag everyone for bans. That would take Bungie a long time to sort through, so it’s easy to see why it might prefer to wash its hands of the situation entirely.
My understanding is that Steam’s Proton (which allows games to run on Linux-based operating systems – like the one the Steam Deck uses – even if they weren’t designed to) has issues with certain anti-cheat programs. So that’s most likely the reason.
— Rainbowmon of the Care-monic Spirits (@rainbowmon2018) March 1, 2022
This theory was later somewhat confirmed in a This Week At Bungie blog post, posted a couple of days after the original report. The post states:
Our goal is to maintain a secure environment for Destiny 2, as it features both PvE and PvP combat in an evolving, dynamic world. Maintaining the integrity of our security is a complex and long-term process. In some cases it means teaming with partners like BattlEye and following their recommendations, in others, it means choosing to not support platforms that could provide bad actors with ways of compromising our own Bungie developed anti-cheat security systems.
The blog post continues by stating that the Steam Deck is ‘not a supported platform’, so attempting to play the game on the console will trigger their ‘automated security systems to see usage as a potential threat to the community’. So basically, while Destiny 2 is supported on Windows/Mac and the Steam Deck automatically has access to almost every game on Steam, some games built for Windows or Mac OS may still struggle on Steam OS. Thus, built-in security systems will immediately flag it due to its unsupported Linux-based OS.
However, the blog post also suggests that this might not always be the case, stating, “While we investigate possibilities of support for new and future platforms, we do not have any additional information at this time.” This might mean that the game will eventually be available on Steam Deck, but it doesn’t look like it’s coming any time soon.
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