Activision Publishing, a subsidiary of the publisher of Call Of Duty, is suing the company that has sold its cheats to "tens of thousands" of Warzone players for "unlawful conduct" and diminishing the experience of its games for "legitimate customers."
EngineOwning offers "high quality cheats" across Warzone, Vanguard, Halo Infinite, Splitgate and more based on the ethos that "everyone should have the ability to win and enjoy online matches." The software for Warzone provides players with an aimbot, smooth aim to reduce the chance of being caught out as a cheater, auto fire, player boxes, and even no recoil and no spread to ensure that the competitor is as deadly as possible in matches. As well as the new Ricochet anti-cheat system that was rolled out late last year, Activision is enacting a multi-pronged approach to rooting out rotten apples from Warzone and Vanguard by stemming the source of these cheats with a strongly worded lawsuit.
Check out our hilarious compilation of Warzone wins and fails right here!
“By this lawsuit, Activision seeks to put a stop to unlawful conduct by an organization that is distributing and selling for profit numerous malicious software products designed to enable members of the public to gain unfair competitive advantages (i.e., to cheat) in the COD Games,” said the company in the suit submitted to the United States District Court of California (cheers, The Verge). “These ongoing activities damage Activision’s games, its overall business, and the experience of the COD player community.”
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“The Cheating Software enables players to manipulate the COD Games to their personal advantage, such as by automatically aiming weapons, revealing the locations of opponents, and allowing the player to see information that is not normally available to players because it would give them an unfair advantage within the game,” explained Activision Publishing and added that the defendants “have been fully aware that their conduct violates Activision’s rights but nevertheless have brazenly continued their activities.”
Ultimately, the cheats jeopardise the satisfaction that "legitimate customers" feel for the game and discourage them from engaging with Warzone, taking their interest (and pocket money) away from Activision and to another online shooter instead. Interestingly enough, a former Call of Duty developer expressed that the series must evolve or become extinct because its core structure is stale. "We used to treat our players like community and not consumers. We brought them in to the fold for map feedback not market feedback," said Robert Bowling.
Well, no matter which way you cut it, cheaters are no good for the group of gamers who want to test their skills fairly in Warzone and avoid immediate pulverisation as soon as they're out of the gate. We'll let you know whether or not Activision is successful in its legal action against EngineOwning.
Featured Image Credit: ActivisionTopics: Call Of Duty, Call Of Duty Warzone, Activision