Destiny 2fans have started a petition for Bungie to support the game on Valve’s handheld gaming PC, the Steam Deck. Considering the sheer popularity of Bungie’s seminal shared-world shooter, it’s not surprising to see plenty of Steam Deck users interested in continuing their adventures on the go using the Deck, but this hasn’t been possible up until now.
Specifically, Bungie doesn’t necessarily have anything against the Steam Deck hardware itself, but the studio hasn’t been interested in supportingDestiny 2on the Linux-based SteamOS. Citing cheating concerns and other potential issues, the studio has even gone a step further than most others did, promising to ban anyone attempting to run the game on the Steam Deck’s baseline operating system.
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The notion thatBungie may ban Steam Deck usersfrom playing Destiny 2 was made clear very early on, and there hasn’t been much in the way of news on this front ever since. It is possible, of course, to install Windows OS on the Steam Deck and play the game that way, but fans are now asking Bungie to reconsider its stance via a Change.org petition. The person behind the petition, Timo Schmidt, has summarized the issue in short order, explaining why Bungie has taken its anti-SteamOS stance, while also providing arguments as to why such a hardline approach isn’t actually necessary.
In concrete terms,Bungie’s decision not to support Steam Deckis said to have been based on the studio’s reliance on the BattlEye anti-cheat system. Bungie wishes to maintain the “integrity” of the game and the security of its existing players, and supporting Linux would presumably affect this in some manner. However, this may well be just an excuse to avoid supporting what the studio seemingly considers to be an all-new platform.
Valve made sure thatSteam Deck supported BattlEye anti-cheatfrom the get-go, meaning that games that rely on it for anti-cheat measures, such asDestiny 2, can and do work on Valve’s handheld gaming PC. Examples include but are not limited toArma 3,Planetside 2,DayZ, andMount and Blade 2: Bannerlord. Moreover, Valve claims that enabling BattlEye support for the Deck is as simple as reaching out to the anti-cheat software developer and telling them to get it done.
The most curious bit of this entire ordeal, however, may be the fact that Bungie already has a full-fledged Linux port ofDestiny 2.Destiny 2on Stadiawas one of the service’s most popular offerings, and the game ran surprisingly well on Google’s Linux-based cloud gaming service. This means that there may be other reasons why Bungie doesn’t want to support the Steam Deck, though there’s no telling why that might be the case.
Destiny 2is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
