Blizzard Sues Developer Who Created Overwatch Cheats

It is no secret that Blizzard is taking a very tough stance against cheaters in Overwatch. Right out the gate with the game barely less than a month old, the company had already banned thousands of cheaters, a ban that would remain in place permanently. However banning cheaters is only a stop-gap as new ones will probably emerge.

This is why it appears that Blizzard is going straight to the source: the company who developed the cheats. According to a report from TorrentFreak, Blizzard is suing Bossland GMBH, a company that developed one of the cheats for Overwatch and who has in the past created bots and other cheats for Blizzard’s other games.

According to Blizzard, not only does this cheat constitute as copyright infringement, unfair competition, and violating the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provision, it also could cost Blizzard millions of dollars in lost sales from gamers who might try to avoid a game that could be filled with cheaters/hackers.

The lawsuit reads, “Defendants’ sale and distribution of the Bossland Hacks in the United States has caused Blizzard to lose millions or tens of millions of dollars in revenue, and to suffer irreparable damage to its goodwill and reputation. Moreover, by releasing ‘Overwatch Cheat’ just days after the release of ‘Overwatch,’ Defendants are attempting to destroy or irreparably harm that game before it even has had a chance to fully flourish.”

That being said, it is unclear as to what Blizzard’s plans are with this lawsuit. The lawsuit is being filed in California, while Bossland GMBH is based in Germany, meaning that even if Blizzard were successful, the US courts would have no jurisdiction over the German company. Let’s not forget that Blizzard actually lost once to Bossland GMBH over a Heroes of the Storm bot which forced Blizzard to pay their legal costs and attorney fees, but then again we guess it’s unlikely that Blizzard will sit back and do nothing.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Gaming
Tags: Blizzard, Legal, Overwatch