Active Call of Duty games like Warzone, Vanguard, and Modern Warfare have been dealing with widespread hackers and cheaters, which has obviously affected players’ enjoyment of the games. Activision has been working on anti-measures, such as the recently-introduced in-house kernel-level anti-cheat system, and recently, the company took that another step further, and filed a lawsuit against cheat provider EngineOwning.
Reported by GamesIndustry, the suit was filed on January 4 in US District Courts for the Central District of California, and covers complaints of trafficking in circumvention devices, intentional interference with contractual relations, and unfair competition.
EngineOwning is a Germany-Based website which deals in sales and distribution of malicious software for various popular multiplayer online games, particularly the Call of Duty titles. EngineOwning provides cheats ranging from auto-aiming, to wallhacks among others and provides them at a price ranging from €4.49 for three days to €139.99 for 90 days.
Activision is seeking for “exemplary and punitive damages.” Additionally, the lawsuit reads: “Because the COD games are so popular, unscrupulous individuals and companies such as [EngineOwning] frequently seek to exploit the games for their own personal gain and profit by selling cheats, hacks, and other malicious software, knowing full well that they are ruining the experience for other players and harming Activision.”
When it comes to banning hackers and cheaters from the games, Activision is pretty swift. As of around August 2021, the company has banned the Call of Duty accounts of approximately 500,000 cheaters (and counting). Now it is time to wait and see whether this will help in reducing the health of the Call of Duty games.