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Bungie say a big fat no to Proton and Steam Deck for Destiny 2

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Were you hoping to play Destiny 2 on Steam Deck or a Linux desktop using Proton? Well, you're currently out of luck. Their updated Steam Guide has a newer section just for Steam Deck and it's not good news.

Like a lot of bigger games, they don't support Linux either natively or at all and right now it appears they don't have any plans to either. It reads:

Destiny 2 is not supported for play on the Steam Deck or on any system utilizing Steam Play's Proton unless Windows is installed and running.  Players who attempt to launch Destiny 2 on the Steam Deck through SteamOS or Proton will be unable to enter the game and will be returned to their game library after a short time.

Players who attempt to bypass Destiny 2 incompatibility will be met with a game ban.

I've already seen a few places jump on that last line but it's pretty normal. Anyone who works around anti-cheat in online games, would face a ban. I mean, that's obvious really isn't it?

Note: Destiny 2 already has a full Linux port, since it runs on Stadia and it was properly ported for it.

For Destiny 2 to work with Proton if they decided not to bring over their Stadia Linux port to Steam, one thing Bungie would need to do is speak to BattlEye which it now uses, although that's only supposed to be a little email away to get hooked up.

Meanwhile, I don't want to hype it up too much just yet but Apex Legends now works on Linux with Proton and the Steam Deck. I even captured a little rough video for you. No confirmation yet to be clear so it's not official as far as I am concerned, so I'm hoping it's not another case of a game that will stop working in a day or two like has happened previously with multiple games. Given the Steam Deck is here though, and Apex had a dedicated Steam Deck branch we saw on SteamDB — I remain hopeful on that.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Predictable. I'm more surprised that Apex Legends has decided to opt for user space anticheat.
rustybroomhandle Mar 3, 2022
Quoting: areamanplaysgame
Quoting: SuperTuxDestiny 2 is dead to me. I'll wait for the official go ahead to check out Apex Legends.

Apex Legends is not really a similar game at all unless you only play Destiny PvP. There is no PvE content in Apex at all.

There's always Warframe.
omer666 Mar 3, 2022
Quoting: areamanplaysgame
Quoting: omer666For a company that started as a mac-exclusive, it is pretty goofy to be so hostile.

It's not especially hostile. The point is in order to make it work right now, you would have to defeat anti-cheat. Obviously they can't say that's OK.

While I am disappointed that they are not putting in the very little effort it would take to make the game playable on Linux, it's just business.
When it's just an email away I tend to think of it as such. They could just send the email and tell Linux gamers "Whatever, it's not supported but you're free to try it."
It also supports the idea that we are Schrödinger's gamers, we're not enough for devs to be interested in supporting us but if they enable the anticheat, we'll be millions overnight.


Last edited by omer666 on 3 March 2022 at 1:26 pm UTC
areamanplaysgame Mar 3, 2022
Quoting: omer666
Quoting: areamanplaysgame
Quoting: omer666For a company that started as a mac-exclusive, it is pretty goofy to be so hostile.

It's not especially hostile. The point is in order to make it work right now, you would have to defeat anti-cheat. Obviously they can't say that's OK.

While I am disappointed that they are not putting in the very little effort it would take to make the game playable on Linux, it's just business.
When it's just an email away I tend to think of it as such. They could just send the email and tell Linux gamers "Whatever, it's not supported but you're free to try it."
It also supports the idea that we are Schrödinger's gamers, we're not enough for devs to be interested in supporting us but if they enable the anticheat, we'll be millions overnight.

But it's not just an email away. Just getting anti-cheat enabled for the game on Linux may be just an email away, but making sure it works and supporting it require more resources than that. And I hope we are not naive enough to think that a live service game that sells content at premium prices can get away with saying, "We can't support the way you run the game, but you're welcome to try."

I want to reiterate that I am sorely disappointed by the decision. It won't make me not buy the Deck, and it might not even make me not buy more Destiny stuff going forward, but I sure would like to be able to play Destiny on the Deck.


Last edited by areamanplaysgame on 3 March 2022 at 7:33 pm UTC
areamanplaysgame Mar 3, 2022
Quoting: rustybroomhandle
Quoting: areamanplaysgame
Quoting: SuperTuxDestiny 2 is dead to me. I'll wait for the official go ahead to check out Apex Legends.

Apex Legends is not really a similar game at all unless you only play Destiny PvP. There is no PvE content in Apex at all.

There's always Warframe.

It looks similar superficially, but Warframe is even less like Destiny mechanically than Apex is, and it is absolutely the least welcoming game for new players in existence.
omer666 Mar 3, 2022
Quoting: areamanplaysgame
Quoting: omer666
Quoting: areamanplaysgame
Quoting: omer666For a company that started as a mac-exclusive, it is pretty goofy to be so hostile.

It's not especially hostile. The point is in order to make it work right now, you would have to defeat anti-cheat. Obviously they can't say that's OK.

While I am disappointed that they are not putting in the very little effort it would take to make the game playable on Linux, it's just business.
When it's just an email away I tend to think of it as such. They could just send the email and tell Linux gamers "Whatever, it's not supported but you're free to try it."
It also supports the idea that we are Schrödinger's gamers, we're not enough for devs to be interested in supporting us but if they enable the anticheat, we'll be millions overnight.

But it's not just an email away. Just getting anti-cheat enabled for the game on Linux may be just an email away, but making sure it works and supporting it require more resources than that. And I hope we are not naive enough to think that a live service game that sells content at premium prices can get away with saying, "We can't support the way you run the game, but you're welcome to try."

I want to reiterate that I am sorely disappointed by the decision. It won't make me not buy the Deck, and it might not even make me not buy more Destiny stuff going forward, but I sure would like to be able to play Destiny on the Deck.
I am not naive, that's basically what id software did with its Linux ports, and that's how Proton works too. Nobody is asking them to "support" Linux, just not to prevent it from working.
areamanplaysgame Mar 3, 2022
Quoting: omer666
Quoting: areamanplaysgame
Quoting: omer666
Quoting: areamanplaysgame
Quoting: omer666For a company that started as a mac-exclusive, it is pretty goofy to be so hostile.

It's not especially hostile. The point is in order to make it work right now, you would have to defeat anti-cheat. Obviously they can't say that's OK.

While I am disappointed that they are not putting in the very little effort it would take to make the game playable on Linux, it's just business.
When it's just an email away I tend to think of it as such. They could just send the email and tell Linux gamers "Whatever, it's not supported but you're free to try it."
It also supports the idea that we are Schrödinger's gamers, we're not enough for devs to be interested in supporting us but if they enable the anticheat, we'll be millions overnight.

But it's not just an email away. Just getting anti-cheat enabled for the game on Linux may be just an email away, but making sure it works and supporting it require more resources than that. And I hope we are not naive enough to think that a live service game that sells content at premium prices can get away with saying, "We can't support the way you run the game, but you're welcome to try."

I want to reiterate that I am sorely disappointed by the decision. It won't make me not buy the Deck, and it might not even make me not buy more Destiny stuff going forward, but I sure would like to be able to play Destiny on the Deck.
I am not naive, that's basically what id software did with its Linux ports, and that's how Proton works too. Nobody is asking them to "support" Linux, just not to prevent it from working.

id software's Linux ports were released decades ago and were not live service games with paid DLC. And they were not expected to provide working anti-cheat protection.

Anti-cheat really is the issue here. If a single-player game doesn't work on Linux, it's the potential Linux player who loses out. But if anti-cheat doesn't work on Linux, it's the Windows players who are at risk.


Last edited by areamanplaysgame on 3 March 2022 at 8:51 pm UTC
omer666 Mar 4, 2022
Quoting: areamanplaysgame
Quoting: omer666
Quoting: areamanplaysgame
Quoting: omer666
Quoting: areamanplaysgame
Quoting: omer666For a company that started as a mac-exclusive, it is pretty goofy to be so hostile.

It's not especially hostile. The point is in order to make it work right now, you would have to defeat anti-cheat. Obviously they can't say that's OK.

While I am disappointed that they are not putting in the very little effort it would take to make the game playable on Linux, it's just business.
When it's just an email away I tend to think of it as such. They could just send the email and tell Linux gamers "Whatever, it's not supported but you're free to try it."
It also supports the idea that we are Schrödinger's gamers, we're not enough for devs to be interested in supporting us but if they enable the anticheat, we'll be millions overnight.

But it's not just an email away. Just getting anti-cheat enabled for the game on Linux may be just an email away, but making sure it works and supporting it require more resources than that. And I hope we are not naive enough to think that a live service game that sells content at premium prices can get away with saying, "We can't support the way you run the game, but you're welcome to try."

I want to reiterate that I am sorely disappointed by the decision. It won't make me not buy the Deck, and it might not even make me not buy more Destiny stuff going forward, but I sure would like to be able to play Destiny on the Deck.
I am not naive, that's basically what id software did with its Linux ports, and that's how Proton works too. Nobody is asking them to "support" Linux, just not to prevent it from working.

id software's Linux ports were released decades ago and were not live service games with paid DLC. And they were not expected to provide working anti-cheat protection.

Anti-cheat really is the issue here. If a single-player game doesn't work on Linux, it's the potential Linux player who loses out. But if anti-cheat doesn't work on Linux, it's the Windows players who are at risk.
I agree Quake 3 was not a persistent world, but it was online, and it supported Anti-cheat (Punkbuster).
As I said, there needs to be a bigger player base for Linux to represent a threat to Windows players. And if it ever grows by that much, making a native port can become an option.


Last edited by omer666 on 4 March 2022 at 3:24 pm UTC
AussieEevee Mar 6, 2022
Quoting: Spl-itThey're not. They threaten people that disable the anti cheat with a ban.
Because let's be honest here, the main reason to disable anti cheat... is to cheat
That's not what they're doing. They're saying anyone that managed to get the game running on proton... anti-cheat in place or disabled - will be banned. Which is scummy.

I have played a lot of games with anti-cheat systems in place through WINE/Proton - most notably World of Warcraft with its warden anti-cheat system - and never had a problem before.
AussieEevee Mar 6, 2022
Quoting: areamanplaysgame
Quoting: omer666For a company that started as a mac-exclusive, it is pretty goofy to be so hostile.

It's not especially hostile. The point is in order to make it work right now, you would have to defeat anti-cheat. Obviously they can't say that's OK.

While I am disappointed that they are not putting in the very little effort it would take to make the game playable on Linux, it's just business.
Destiny 2 uses BattlEye as its anti-cheat system. BattlEye has supported Linux, by their own words, for a long time and will continue to support Linux for the foreseeable future.
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