Destiny 2 cheat maker owes Bungie $12 million in default judgment

pcgamesn.com:

A Destiny 2 cheat maker is now on the hook for $12 million after Bungie successfully pursued a default judgment against the Romanian Company that provided Destiny 2 cheats for the popular FPS game.

In 2021, Bungie initiated a lawsuit against Veterancheats. After the company failed to reply to the complaint, Bungie sought a default judgment against the company for copyright infringement circumvention of technological protection measures in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Bungie alleged that the company sold software that gave advantages to unskilled players, allowing them to gain an unfair advantage in its multiplayer game.

After a federal court judge in Washington state confirmed the court had jurisdiction over the Romanian business in the case, the judge awarded Bungie’s request for more than $12 million in damages and fees. The judge noted that because the violations were wilful, Bungie was entitled to up to $2,500 per download of the programs.

“Bungie has asked for only $2,000 for each of the 5,848 downloads of the VeteranCheats Hack and the Court finds that this amount is appropriate. The Court will therefore enter a default judgment in the amount of $11,696,000 for Claudiu-Florentin’s violations of the DMCA,” the judge wrote. The judge also granted additional damages based on Copyright Act violations and awarded attorney’s fees in the matter.

Veterancheats also received a permanent injunction barring the company from selling cheats for any Bungie games. It cannot use domain name services or services such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Discord or Reddit to promote or sell cheats, as reported by TorrentFreak.

Although it’s a win for Bungie, it’s unclear whether or not the game development