Blizzard Entertainment has won a default judgment against a Germany-based bot maker for “Overwatch,” “Pokémon GO” and other games. Bossland GMBH has been ordered to pay Blizzard $8.6 million by a federal court in California.
For the uninitiated, bots are third-party tools offered on the promise of unfair advantages in multiplayer games. A bot called Watchover Tyrant, for one, gives players boosted health, unlimited ammo and improved aiming. Other bots created by Bossland such as Hearthbuddy and Honorbuddy had bypassed anti-Cheat protection, according to Blizzard.
The company argued that the cheats have drastically changed gameplay without its permission, and resold its code.
In the case of “Pokémon GO,” Bossland cracked the game’s code to make way for Necrobot, a cheating software that allows players to find any Pokémon. Blizzard doesn’t own “PoGo” of course, but it does own “World of Warcraft,” “Diablo,” “Heroes of the Storm” and “Overwatch.” These games all have bots created by Bossland.
Blizzard wins by default
The judgment was proclaimed after Bossland chose not to defend itself, following a denial of its motion earlier to sack the case for a lack of jurisdiction. The $8.6 million accounts for 42, 818 counts of copyright infringement.
Courts found the Bossland-created tools to be a violation of DMCA copyright agreements within the U.S.
The bots are considered the cause for compromising game experience among players, and for Blizzard, it had to spend funds to deploy game fixes and put an end to in-game cheating.
Blizzard has sued Bossland before over a “Heroes of the Storm” cheat, but the publisher lost and was ordered to pay Bossland’s legal fees instead.
This time however, Blizzard eluded defeat after months of feuding with the bot makers, which started July 2016.
What this means for gamers
Per the court’s ruling, tools created by Bossland are banned in the U.S. This means players may eventually see fewer cheaters online, as selling any of the cheat products applicable to Blizzard games is now prohibited.
Blizzard has been applying restrictions within its games recently, and has warned players before that cheaters risk having their accounts banned. "The in-game cheating also harms Blizzard's goodwill and reputation," it in a statement.
