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A high-profile video game cheat maker has been ordered to pay Activision over $14 million in damages and hand over its domain name.
The United States District Court of the Central District of California granted Activision’s motion for default judgement in the civil case against EngineOwning, which sells cheats for a number of Call of Duty games as well as Counter-Strike, Battlefield, and Titanfall. Activision is awarded $14,465,600 in statutory damages and $292,912 in attorneys’ fees, and the court issued a permanent injunction to enjoin EngineOwning’s “unlawful conduct” and to transfer its domain name, www.EngineOwning.to, to Activision.
Activision successfully argued that EngineOwning continued to circumvent its security systems and sell the cheating software in violation of the The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). It called for the minimum statutory damages of $200 under the DMCA multiplied by the general approximation of the number of downloads of the cheating software in the United States (72,328), for a total of $14,465,600. The Court found the request “reasonable” under the circumstances.
In February 2023, a judge ruled that EngineOwning must pay Activision $3 million in damages after a lawsuit in which Activision claimed high-profile streamers used Warzone cheats. But EngineOwning continued its operation, selling cheats for 2023’s Call of Duty game Modern Warfare 3 as well as Warzone. Activision then continued its long-running battle with the cheat maker, resulting in this ruling.
There are now questions about whether Activision will see any of the money it is owed by EngineOwning, or its ability to claim ownership of the website. At the time of this article’s publication, cheats and HWID spoofers remain available to buy from EngineOwning, which seemingly operates outside the U.S.
Of course, competitive multiplayer video games have endured a cheating problem for decades, and Call of Duty in particular is seen as having a cheating and hacking problem, most prominently on the free-to-download battle royale Warzone on PC. Activision and other video game publishers face an uphill battle in the war against cheat makers, but the Call of Duty company will be hoping rulings such as these act as a meaningful deterrent as it prepares to release Black Ops 6 later this year.
Overnight, Activision tweeted to say that all accounts found to have participated in any form of boosting behavior in Multiplayer or Warzone Ranked Play would have their SR reset and be removed from the Leaderboard ahead of the Season 4 launch. Activision continued: “Additionally, as previously announced, accounts that boosted their progression in Ranked Play will be permanently restricted from accessing Ranked Play modes in Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone.”
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.