Niantic has won an important court victory. The developers of Pokémon GO sued a cheat provider, which now has to pay a fine in the millions.
This is what happened: Niantic sued the cheat provider Global++. This company offered hacked versions of Pokémon GO that allowed users to manipulate their GPS. This was a thorn in Niantic’s side and they filed a lawsuit.
The case became public in 2019, but now the judgment has been made: Global++ has to pay 5 million dollars to Niantic. Additionally, Global++ is prohibited from selling programs that contain the code of Niantic’s games.
A major blow against cheaters?
What does the judgment mean now? Global++ was one of the largest providers on the market and sold hacked versions of Ingress and Wizards Unite, the other games from Niantic, alongside the versions of Pokémon GO.
The provider is now out of the game and cannot sell any programs anymore.
However, there are still numerous other providers who distribute such programs. Spoofing has therefore not been completely defeated by this judgment.
Nevertheless, one might now suspect that other providers of such cheat software have been warned. They might be the next to face a lawsuit and fear the immense damage payment. It remains to be seen whether more providers will withdraw as a result.
What is spoofing anyway? Players who spoof manipulate their GPS location. For example, they may be sitting on their couch, but the manipulated GPS thinks they are in New York. This way, they can stroll through the streets of New York in Pokémon GO without actually being there.
Spoofing is notorious because some of these cheaters excessively attack the gyms in their city. They are much faster than fair players due to cheating and can therefore take over gyms more quickly. This disadvantages fair trainers who have no chance of getting a spot in the gym.
There are more reasons to be happy with Pokémon GO. The developers have announced 3 new features:
Pokémon GO introduces 3 features that make it easier for you to play
