Epic Games has taken legal action against two prolific Fortnite Battle Royale cheaters.
After a spate of banning scores of cheaters, the company has gone one step further by taking legal action against two well-established cheaters, according to data collected by TorrentFreak from a North Carolina Federal Court.
The two cheaters in question are referred to as Mr. Broom and Mr. Vraspir. Epic statement clearly implies the disdain the company has for cheaters: “Defendant’s cheating, and his inducing and enabling of others to cheat, is ruining the game playing experience of players who do not cheat.”
Broom has been banned once and stated he’s working on his own cheat for the game, and Vraspir was banned nine times. Vraspir is also accused of having written code for cheats that are out in the wild.
Epic also highlights the fact that the cheater’s are actively breaking the games EULA – “The software the Defendant uses to cheat infringes Epic’s copyrights in the game and breaches the terms of agreements to which Defendant agreed in order to have access to the game.”
This action follows on the tail of the company saying earlier this month that “addressing cheaters in Fortnite is the highest priority across Epic Games.”
Epic also hinted that something like this was coming, saying that they were “constantly working against both the cheaters themselves and the cheat providers. And it’s ongoing, we’re exploring every measure to ensure the cheaters are removed and stay removed.”
And this isn’t a purely moral fight – Epic Games is asking for up to $150,000 in statutory damages for copyright infringement from these two men – this alone should hopefully deter those looking to cheat in-game.
Fortnite Battle Royale is a “fast follow” free-to-play game that we’ve been enjoying – but cheaters take the fun out of it, and I think Epic is sending a strong message that they can, and will, take serious actions against those who try to ruin the fun for others.
