Bungie has identified an issue that has led to widespread username changes in Destiny 2.
Following a recent update, players have reported that their Bungie names have been reset to generic names with “Guardian” followed by four random numbers.
An in-game message will inform them that their Bungie name has been changed, either because they are logging in for the first time or because they have chosen to make the change.
In a series of posts on X, Bungie has now confirmed that the issue has affected a “large number” of players and is currently being investigated.
“We are tracking an issue where a large number of account names were changed through our Bungie name moderation tool,” the studio wrote on Wednesday
“We are actively investigating the case and expect to have more information tomorrow, including details on an additional name change token for all players.”
An update released today says the studio has found the issue, prevented it from occurring again, and now plans to issue free tokens so players can change their usernames again.
“We have identified the issue that has forced a high number of Bungie name changes,” it says. “We have made a server-side change to prevent the issue from impacting accounts in the future.”
“We continue to evaluate options to resolve the affected player accounts. This will take some time as our path forward depends on resolving the underlying issue.
“As mentioned yesterday, we still plan to distribute name change tokens to all players at a later date to help them. As soon as we have more information, we will be sure to share it with you.”
It is not yet clear whether players will be able to change their username back to their previous one or whether all changed usernames will be up for grabs again, which could potentially lead to players “stealing” other names and impersonating the users who had those names before.
Last month, Bungie announced that it would lay off 220 employees (about 17% of the studio) and “integrate” another 155 employees into Sony Interactive Entertainment.