Destiny 2 has been in a legal battle with the cheat provider AimJunkies for months. Recently, they tried to get out of it with a countersuit, claiming Bungie had hacked themselves. In the end, it was all for nothing. Bungie is set to receive around 4 million euros from AimJunkies and is suing the next provider.
What lawsuit is this about? In April 2022, AimJunkies became the next cheat provider to come under fire. Bungie wanted to prohibit the provider from continuing to offer cheats for Destiny 2.
In the fall of 2022, Bungie’s tone became much harsher. The developer called in top lawyer Don McGowan and began an aggressive legal strategy with him. At that time, he stated that they wanted to better protect honest players in the future and were making a “strategic push.”
Since then, Bungie has not only been hunting down cheaters in the game. They mainly want to get to the people behind the scenes, the sellers of cheats. To achieve this, the developer does not shy away from hard, months-long disputes, like the one with AimJunkies.
- At first, AimJunkies delayed the proceedings, claiming that Bungie’s harsh approach in the case was a “too sharp practice” and felt unfairly treated.
- Then, AimJunkies rejected Bungie’s claims, arguing that cheating does not violate the law.
- Finally, they even claimed that Bungie had hacked themselves and illegally monitored players. Some of the violated copyrights mentioned were established only long after Bungie’s initial provision of the cheats.
In fact, AimJunkies initially succeeded with that, and it looked bad for Bungie in the ongoing proceedings. Still, Bungie did not intend to back down. The developer amended its lawsuit with the court’s permission. Successfully.
AimJunkies must pay 4 million euros in damages
In the arbitration hearing, which took place behind closed doors on February 20, Judge Ronald Cox sided with Bungie and dealt AimJunkies a heavy defeat.
- The cheat operator AimJunkies must pay Bungie a total of 4 million euros. This includes approximately 3.4 million euros in damages and 692,000 € in fees.
The reasoning for the decision: The reasoning states that AimJunkies and the involved third-party developer James May intentionally circumvented Bungie’s technical protection measures in violation of the DMCA.
May stated that he connected reverse-engineering tools to the Destiny 2 process on many occasions to reverse engineer it and create a cheat for the game. He also testified that after being caught and banned several times by Bungie, he attempted various methods to circumvent the bans and protections Bungie put in place to prevent reverse engineering. This circumvention was malicious.
In light of the outrageous and intentional conduct of the defendants, including their ongoing concealment of sales, Bungie is entitled to full statutory damages.
said the presiding judge of the federal court in Washington during the arbitration
In addition to violating the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA, the defendants were also held liable for the trade, sale, and shipment of cheats.
PvP players are pleased: On Reddit and Twitter, the community celebrated this success. The player SwizzAyeee writes, for example, “Hopefully, every cheat site will fear making cheats for Destiny in the future, fearing being sued.”
A good deal for Bungie: This, a high risk for Destiny 2 cheat providers, seems to be Bungie’s goal.
As Torrentfreak reported, Bungie’s fight against cheaters has now even spread across multiple continents. The aim is to rigorously prosecute all providers and all involved parties. This is a good deal for Bungie that is increasingly paying off.
Bungie is taking down one cheat provider after another
Now it’s LaviCheats’ turn: Just one day after the victory over AimJunkies, Bungie applied for a default judgment of approximately 6.3 million euros against the alleged operator of LaviCheats.
- The case against LaviCheats and Elite Tech Boss has been going on for a while, but it is also the most eventful so far. It is no longer just about hacks and software, but also about the fact that the cheating customers are also being scammed and spied on.
Cheat sites accuse each other: In a message posted on the website, LaviCheats stated that they would no longer sell Destiny 2 hacks due to the lawsuit. At the same time, however, LaviCheats also advised Destiny 2 players to buy cheats from CobraCheats instead.
In doing so, the operator somewhat betrayed himself. Bungie believes that the India-based Kunal “Lavi” Bansal moved his illegal activities related to cheat software to one or more other websites like cobracheats.com after receiving the lawsuit notification.
Here too, the accusations revolve around the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA of Destiny 2. For each of the 2,790 downloaded cheat copies, Bungie wants to recover almost 1,900 € per cheater and does not intend to relent.
The claim with all accusations totaling 6.3 million euros is absolutely justified. Bungie emphasized in court that the company had to spend millions of dollars to combat cheaters. Therefore, it is only appropriate to send another strong message.
The federal court in Washington must now review the application and make a decision on it. Without a defender, nothing stands in the way of another Bungie victory, in this case against LaviCheats.
What do you think of this development? Is Bungie on the right track in the fight against cheaters? How much success do you see in Bungie’s efforts? And do you think other providers will reconsider their actions sooner now?
In this article, we will also reveal how much Destiny 1 is included in the new DLC “Lightfall”:
Destiny 2 hides an important location in Lightfall that only veterans will recognize
