Pretty much most games have cheats and hacks that allow players to go beyond what they are normally allowed to do. While developers don’t like cheaters, sometimes it can be ignored especially in single-player games where it doesn’t really affect anyone. However when it comes to multiplayer, it can be an issue.
This is why back in 2016, Blizzard sued Overwatch cheat maker Bossland GMBH and it looks like the company has won. In a default judgement against the company, the court has ordered Bossland to pay Blizzard a whopping $8.6 million in damage. This judgement was entered after Bossland had chosen not to defend themselves.
The $8.6 million damages accounts for 42,818 counts of copyright infringement, where Blizzard claimed that the company’s bots such as Honorbuddy, Watchover Tyrant, Hearthbuddy, and more altered its games without permission and bypassed Blizzard’s anti-cheat protection system. They also argued that Bossland had resold its code.
While we doubt that this will put an end to botting or cheating, the damages of $8.6 million should help to discourage other companies from creating similar tools in the future, or at least that’s what we’d like to believe. This isn’t the first time Blizzard has gone after cheaters and we doubt that it will be their last either.