Lawsuits suggest some video game cheats may be illegal

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

A string of lawsuits The gaming industry is seeking to crack down on cheating in some popular online games, arguing that making cheats for games and even using them might be illegal.

Why is it important: Cheating is a scourge of many online games, inspiring increasingly bold legal counterattacks from some of the companies that make them.

• These lawsuits are largely directed against the makers of cheat software, but they don’t leave gamers who use the cheats completely off the hook.
• Cheaters “induce and enable individuals Destiny 2 players to create an unauthorized and infringing derivative work each time they deploy the cheat software,” says a lawsuit by Sony-owned Bungie Studios that is still pending in court.

Be smart: The types of cheats in play are not ones that old-school players could have applied by entering a developer-programmed invincibility code.

• Rather, they involve premium cheats that allow players to see through walls to gain an advantage in multiplayer fighting games such as Destiny 2 or Call of Duty.

game companies, many of whom are banner tens and hundreds Among thousands of accounts, say that cheating scares honest players and is expensive to fight.

• Bungie estimated in a lawsuit that it spends “approximately $1,250,000 a year on its anti-cheat measures,” not including legal costs.

The big picture: Gaming companies definitely hate cheating, but have been careful to focus their firepower on cheaters, perhaps because targeting more cheaters themselves with legal action could be costly, backfire on the courts, or simply make players clumsy.

• Cheating is big business, not as lucrative as creating a hit game, but a revenue generator that game publishers want to strangle.
• A cheat seller sued by Bungie is still selling cheats for dozens of games, including an “aimbot” for Call of Duty that can be used for $13/day or one for Valorant at $85/month.

Winning Streak: Gaming companies won several legal victories in 2022 against cheaters.

• In June, the creator of Destiny Bungie won a settlement of $13.5 million against a cheater who, in turn, helped expose the others that Bungie continues to pursue.
• In November, another group of cheaters sued Bungie and Ubisoft agreed to pay.
• Also last month, an Australian judge order a cheater from this country, who was sued in 2018, to pay Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive AU$130,000.

Between the lines: Most cheating lawsuits from major publishers claiming that cheats that modify the game are copyrightable offenseboth when they are created and when a player uses them.

• A cheater who draws a box around an opposing player, which would otherwise be hidden, is creating unauthorized derivative works, according to lawsuits from Bungie and others.

Repel: Most defendants in cheating cases have not been shown or bent, accepting damages and a settlement. But Bungie has encountered fiery resistance throughout 2022 from alleged Phoenix Digital cheaters.

• “‘Cheating in Destiny’ is not, in and of itself, illegal,” the band’s attorney said in a January court filing.
• The increasingly savage case has included Phoenix Digital’s counter-suit against Bungie for allegedly violating his terms of service in September and the judge dismissed claims from both sides which have since been refiled with more details.

The bottom line: The companies don’t show they’re keen on suing cheaters of any kind, but the lawsuits are designed to serve as a wake-up call to those who think cheating in an online game may be harmless.

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