Bungie does not forgive cheaters. This time, the American developers are seeking multimillion-dollar damages from the Romanian owner of a website where, until recently, cheats for Destiny 2 could be purchased.
According to previous announcements, Bungie, the studio known for series like Halo and Destiny, continues its ruthless fight against cheaters.
The developer, who has made it his goal to create a “healthy community” of gamershas adopted a strategy of prosecuting the creators and sellers of illegal software that facilitates gambling.
According to Torrentfreak, this time the creators of Fate once again I took a closer look at the Romanian Veterancheats websitewhich for some years has been offering illegal gaming aid applications, including for Destiny 2.
It’s worth noting that Bungie sued Veterancheats in 2021, but that case has stalled.
The developer apparently didn’t forget about the cheat provider and filed another lawsuit a few days ago, this time for default judgment against Veterancheats owner Mihai Claudiu-Florentin.
huge compensation
According to Bungie, the defendant sold cheat packs for Destination 2such as “Razor”, “HLBOT” and “Render”. These mods gave players an unfair advantage, spoiling the fun for the rest of the community.
For copyright infringement and circumvention of technological protection measures Bungie is seeking damages from developer Veterancheats, totaling over $12 million.
A meticulously prepared trial
The developer prepared a series of information from financial institutions such as Coinbase, PayPal, and Stripe for the trial. The data obtained show that 5,848 separate transactions were made on the defendant’s website that may be related to hacks of Destination 2.
In total, these transactions generated approximately $146,000 in revenue, which Bungie is claiming as actual damages for copyright infringement.
Additionally, the game developer is also asking for $2,000 for each of the 5,848 transactions made, bringing the total to $11,696,000 for circumventing DMCA regulations.
The studio’s attorneys explain that the above amount is close to the amount the developer has spent to mitigate the presence of cheaters in the game.
As if that weren’t enough, Bungie is also asking that the defendant be ordered to pay the costs of the lawsuit.
blackmail attempt
Interestingly, defendant Claudiu-Florentin reportedly briefly communicated with the developer’s legal team, at the exact moment the studio was attempting to obtain transaction data from Stripe. Veterancheat’s owner has offered to stop selling cheats if Bungie drops the ongoing lawsuit.
Claudiu-Florentin also pointed out competing cheat providers who continued to offer similar software for Destiny 2, and further revealed the creator of the specific software.
However, Bungie, in line with the aforementioned strategy, made no concessions and pursued the case.
The court has yet to issue an official decision. However, it seems that without an official defense from the owner of Veterancheats, the verdict can only be one: in favor of the game developer, of course.
Big deal
Unfortunately, the cheating industry, despite constant opposition from game developers, is still present in the world of video games. There are many websites on the internet that provide illegal files that give advantage to games, mainly online, for a certain price.
Often the creators of illegal game software operate in the open and make a profit until the developers take a closer look at their illegal activities.
When this happens, reactions vary: some cheating websites are even willing to pay multimillion-dollar fines for copyright infringement, as was the case with Elite Boss Tech, for example.
It’s no surprise that more and more games, even since beta versions, have implemented anti-cheat systems, following the principle: prevention is better than cure.