Enlarge / You think I’m using an external cheat device? Then why is this shot going to miss so badly? (credit: Bungie)

After nearly six years of managing the Destiny 2 player base, developer Bungie has had plenty of experience trying to stop cheaters who use software tools to try to gain an unfair advantage in the online shooter. Now, though, the company is expanding its anti-cheating policies to target certain uses of third-party peripherals that it says have been “entering their villain arc” among the player base.

Bungie’s latest “This Week at Bungie” post specifically calls out “programmable controllers” and “keyboard and mouse adapters” that players can use to “execute simple scripts or trick the game into giving you extra aim assist.” While Bungie doesn’t mention any of these devices by name, the description seems to encompass “passthrough” hardware from companies like the ConsoleTuner or Crosus, which can modify or amend player inputs from generic USB controls.

As we’ve reported previously, some cheat makers have used these tools as part of an intricate external computer-vision-assisted toolchain that detects enemy targets before automatically and instantly sending the appropriate input command to aim and fire at them (Bungie also calls out the “advanced macros” and “automation via artificial intelligence” that make these cheats work). These external cheats can evade some standard anti-cheat software-detection tools since all of the processing and illicit input comes from a completely separate device from the one running the game itself.