Creators of the “Destiny 2” cheats ordered to pay Bungie $13.5 mil as part of settlement

Numerous companies that were in charge of producing hacks for Destiny 2 have recently reached a legal agreement with Bungie that will cost them more than $13 million USD. The lawsuit was initially filed by the video game developer against Veterancheats, LaviCheats, and Elite Boss Tech, all of which created and hosted domains for cheats that were used in Destiny 2. However, before the case could be heard in court, the organisations were able to come to an agreement and settle the matter for an astounding $13.5 million USD. 

On June 9, the owner of Elite Boss Tech, Robert James Duthie Nelson, along with a large number of other defendants, reached an agreement that their cheating software adds an unauthorised “graphical overlay” in-game, which injects third-party code into Bungie’s copyrighted code, thereby constituting a “unauthorised derivative work.” 

In addition, Elite Boss Tech admitted that its cheat software got around certain technological measures that Bungie implemented in Destiny 2 to control who could access what in the game. This constitutes a direct violation of the provisions of the DMCA that forbid circumvention of certain technological measures. 

The firm, which includes the identified defendants as well as other anonymous producers and suppliers of cheats, has been permanently barred from further creating or distributing any software that infringes on Bungie’s intellectual property. This prohibition applies to all makers and providers of cheats. 

The total amount is approximately equivalent to $2,000 USD each infringement of Bungie’s copyright under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, multiplied by the number of unique downloads that occurred through those servers, which was 6,765. 

Bungie argues that working on anti-cheat mechanisms for a live-service game like as Destiny 2 is “exorbitantly expensive” and time-consuming, despite the fact that the number may appear relatively enormous. In addition, it stated that its “anti-cheating vigil can never end” as long as these cheats were online. Because of this, it filed a lawsuit against the three businesses for breach of copyright in addition to other offences such as fraud, money laundering, and racketeering.