If you’ve been a PC gamer for any time, you know that hackers can be the bane of any game’s existence. This is especially true in skill-based games, where even the slightest edge can be the difference between a victory or defeat screen.
What you may be surprised to learn, however, is that hacking is actually pretty huge in terms of revenue. According to gaming writer Stephen Totilo, Activision has claimed in a lawsuit against EngineOwning, an online cheat provider, that the company believes that they’ve made “hundreds of thousands of dollars, or more,” from the distribution of their cheating software for Activision’s flagship title, Call of Duty.
And it’s not just the revenues gained from the cheaters, either. According to Totilo in an Axios report, Bungie, creators of the popular Destiny games, spends “roughly $1,250,000 per year on its anti-cheating measures,” not including legal fees. This creates an interesting dynamic of a sub-industry within gaming of publishers and developers spending money on anti-cheat software while cheat developers continue to rake in the dough for their hacks. It’s not a battle that game developers have been winning — until now.
Recently, the judge presiding over the Activision v. EngineOwning trial ruled in favor of Activision, stating that EngineOwning is liable for $3 million in damages. For gamers, this is a win, as cheats and hacks can often ruin the gaming experience for those that want to play fairly.
The Activision victory, in addition to the Bungie lawsuit, is a powerful signal that game creators will not take hacking lying down and may dissuade future individuals from starting businesses around exploiting game vulnerabilities.
In addition to spending an over-six-figure sum just to combat cheats, hacking in PvP games can ruin the entire game by frustrating those without hacks into not picking it up anymore. To a games company, this could be devastating to the actual player base of their games, which is even more alarming than spending the money to combat cheats in a highly-popular online game.
Some in the community are voicing their concerns about how these rulings may have unintended adverse effects on the modding community, however — we find that claim somewhat hard to believe as hacking companies are actively undermining and malicious, while modders are actively trying to promote and enhance the game it’s modding. And, unless game companies start suing modders, the potential that it would hurt that community seems low, at least in our estimation.
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