Epic Games sues players over ‘Fortnite’ cheats

Video games developer Epic Games has taken two players to court over cheat software for “Fortnite", a multi-player survival video game.

Epic accused Brandon Lucas and Colton Conter of copyright infringement in a lawsuit filed on Wednesday, October 10, at the US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. 

“Fortnite” has taken the gaming world by storm, amassing more than 125 million players since its launch last year, according to statistics portal Statista. 

According to Epic’s claim, the two defendants are infringing copyright by “injecting unauthorised cheat software into the copyright-protected code” of “Fortnite”. 

“In so doing, defendants are creating unauthorised derivative works of Fortnite by unlawfully modifying the game’s code, and materially altering the game that the code creates, the experience of those who play it, and the experience of those who watch it being played,” said the suit. 

That’s not all—the two players are allegedly posting videos on YouTube of themselves and others playing and cheating at “Fortnite”. 

Epic alleged that although Lucas claims to be against cheating in competitive video games, he is using the videos to demonstrate and promote the hacks he sells and to direct viewers to the website where he sells the cheats. 

“Defendants’ cheating and Lucas’ inducing and enabling of others to cheat ruin the game-playing experience of players who do not cheat because they create an uneven playing field, violate universally understood notions of fair play, and diminish the integrity of the game,” added the claim. 

Epic has also banned both defendants for this conduct, but they’ve reportedly continued to cheat using new accounts that they created using false information. 

The games maker has asked the court to find infringement and stop the players from infringing Epic’s copyright. Epic has also requested that the court order destruction of all infringing videos and copies of cheats. 

Earlier this week, Epic announced that it had acquired Finnish security firm Kamu, in a bid to crack down on cheating and protect players. 

Kamu’s anti-cheat service protects more than 80 games and is installed by more than 100 million PC players globally, according to the press release.