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posted by martyb on Friday October 19 2018, @09:35AM   Printer-friendly
from the trusting-values-sent-from-the-client-is-an-Epic-fail dept.

Royale-lly Screwed: Epic Sues YouTubers Promoting Fortnite Cheats

Part of Fortnite's appeal is that it offers a level playing field. People can't unlock new weapons, start a match with equipment, or augment their abilities by grinding for in-game upgrades. Everyone drops out of the Battle Bus with the same tools, a glider and a pickaxe so their skill will determine whether they catch the 'dub or take an L. So it may not come as a surprise that Epic Games is suing two YouTubers for upsetting that balance with cheats.

TorrentFreak has reported that Epic's lawsuit targets Brandon "Golden Modz" Lucas, a cheat distributor and content creator whose YouTube channel has 1.7 million followers, and Colton "Exentric" Contor, who has over 7,000 followers. The cheat in question combined an aimbot with ESP features that offered information that players would otherwise have no way of knowing. It reportedly cost $55 (30 days) or $300 (unlimited) from the Golden Godz website.

[...] The suit appeared to have a quick impact. Golden Modz's last video was published on October 12, and the Golden Godz website currently says that "No packages exist at this time," even though a dialog box claims that "Payment systems are back up and new packages have been added!" The site claims to offer various "services" for several Call of Duty games and Grand Theft Auto: Online; all of them appear to have been pulled.

Also at Polygon.

Fortnite.

Previously: Epic Games Sues 14-Year-Old after He Files a DMCA Counterclaim for a How-to-Cheat Video
U.S. Federal Judge Blocks Man From Selling GTA V Cheating Software

Related: Game About Net Neutrality Receives Grant from Epic Games
Epic Games (Developer of the Unreal Engine) Shows Off "Siren" Demo
Sony Faces Growing 'Fortnite' Backlash At E3
Fortnite's Android Version Bypasses Google Play to Avoid 30% "Store Tax"
Epic's first Fortnite Installer allowed hackers to download and install anything on your Android phone


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  • (Score: 2) by darkfeline on Friday October 19 2018, @07:26PM

    by darkfeline (1030) on Friday October 19 2018, @07:26PM (#751102) Homepage

    They almost certainly violated the service agreement for playing on Fornite's servers, which may entitle the service provider to monetary compensation, hence the lawsuit.

    Also, these tools would probably count as derivative works, so they may in fact violate copyright, but I don't think the case law is clear on the matter.

    And the client software EULA may also entitle the publisher to monetary compensation.

    This is a civil matter, and anyone can bring any civil lawsuit they want (of course, if it's frivolous it'll get thrown out and you may be fined for wasting court resources).

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