What just happened? Cheating never pays, especially if you're creating cheats for Call of Duty. EngineOwning, a cheat manufacturer that sells its products for a number of Call of Duty games, as well as Counter-Strike, Battlefield, and Titanfall, has been ordered to pay Activision around $14.5 million in damages.
US District Court Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald in California found in favor of Activision Publishing in its case against EngineOwning UG, Garnatz Enterprise Ltd, and 11 individuals.
Activision filed its lawsuit in January 2022, accusing the defendants of DMCA violations and profiting from cheats like auto-aim and auto-fire, which gave players an unfair advantage.
A judge ruled in February 2023 that EngineOwning must pay Activision $3 million in damages, but that was only against two people involved with the firm, notes IGN. Many of those it originally sued never responded to the suit, and EngineOwning continued making cheats for the likes of Warzone and Modern Warfare 3.
In addition to DMCA violations, the judge found the defendants guilty of intentionally inducing players to buy and use cheats.
Activision has now been awarded $14,465,600 in statutory damages and $292,912 in attorneys' fees by the default judgement. The court also issued a permanent injunction against EngineOwning and ordered the transfer of its domain name, www.EngineOwning.to, to Activision. It's unclear if Activision will actually receive any of the money, or ownership of the domain. EngineOwning's website, which is operated from outside the US, is still up and selling cheats.
This isn't the first time a game company has sued a cheat maker and been awarded millions. Bungie's long-running battle against AimJunkies, aka Phoenix Digital, saw the Destiny 2 dev settle for $13.5 million. It also won $63,000 in what is thought to be the first time a jury had ruled in a case involving a cheat creator violating a gaming company's copyrights.
AimJunkies countersued Bungie in that case, claiming it illegally accessed one of its computers, but the jury dismissed the case. Founder David Schaefer says he will appeal the verdict.