In a rather surprising conclusion of the lawsuit Bungie filed last August, Destiny 2 The cheating domains, Veterancheats, LaviCheats and Elite Boss Tech will have to pay a total of about $13.5 million in damages. The settlement was calculated as a $2,000 fine for each violation of the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provisions (17 USC § 1201 a and b), multiplied by approximately 6,765 unique downloads of the program.
According to a report by Andy Maxwell TorrentFreakBungie charged the defendants with violating copyright law in addition to racketeering, fraud, money laundering and violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
cheating in games, e.g. Destiny 2 The popularity of these programs has been led to developers adopting increasingly stringent methods.Adopting these countermeasures can be very difficult and costly, especially in the case of live service games such as Destiny 2 There is an ecosystem that changes regularly.
In addition to hurting the gaming experience, Bungie said in earlier court filings, Destiny 2the existence of these cheats means that its “anti-cheat vigil will never stop” and that enacting anti-cheat measures is “expensive.”
The case initially appeared to be about to go to trial, but now, a consensus has been reached with defendants Robert James Duthie Nelson, Elite Boss Tech and 11020781 Canada. The agreement holds defendants liable for the creation and distribution of these cheats, that the infringement was intentional, and that their software was designed to circumvent the technical measures Bungie employed to control access to its software.
The settlement is in line with other similar lawsuits Bungie has filed over the past year in partnership with Ubisoft and Riot Games, both of which were brought against cheat makers for making illegal programs. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege and brave, also Destiny 2. The case with Riot Games cost the developer $2 million, while the joint case with Ubisoft is still pending.
Cases like this are becoming more common, and not without precedent.Activision sued back in January call-of-duty Cheat maker EngineOwning has cited similar allegations and is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.