What is BattlEye?
BattlEye is a tool designed to be able to detect and ban cheats while certain games are running, block them and try to ensure the best possible gaming experience. Many titles, such as Destiny 2 (which has recently included it), the ARMA saga, PUBG or Fortnite (among many others) make use of this platform to try to combat these cheaters.
When we run a game, this tool starts to analyze our computer constantly (as if it were a kind of antivirus) in search of any tool or practice that can be used to cheat. The anti-cheat system has its own security measures that guarantee that the player, for example, does not end the process to be able to do his own thing, or that he does not use other programs to try to hide his activity. In case of detecting a cheater, this apply global bans (for example, to a full Steam account) to prevent the cheater from playing other games.
This anti-cheat system is completely free for us, since the developer is paying for its license. However, is it really so? Or, unknowingly, are we paying “obligated” with our data?
Everything that the anti-cheat collects while we play online
Although the data may vary depending on the game that runs it, we will be able to give an example of the latest implementation of the BattlEye launcher in Destiny 2. When we run it for the first time we must accept a window that informs us of the data to be collected and processed while we are playing quietly over the Internet. These data are:
- IP address of our computer.
- Game identifiers (username, ID, email, etc).
- Hardware information and identifiers (such as component serial numbers).
- The operating system we use.
- Memory and file information related to the game or operating system.
- Processes that we are executing, drivers and other executables that we may have on the computer.
- File names saved on the PC.
- Username of our PC.
As if the information collected by this anti-cheat system were not enough, it is true that it can offer us a cleaner gaming experience, without cheats, but in exchange for performance problems and a significant increase in loading, waiting and latency times. Or, at least, that’s what the Destiny 2 loading screens indicate.
BattlEye ensures in its privacy policy that it only processes information when necessary, and that everything that is not necessary to identify and punish cheaters is not stored on its servers. Despite this, this is one more example of how we are giving away our data just to play.
