Bungie Takes Down Another Cheat Seller Wins $12 Million in Damages. Bungie's determination to maintain fair play in Destiny 2 pays off with $12M damages win over cheat software vendor.
Destiny 2, an immensely popular online multiplayer game, has recently found itself embroiled in a legal conflict. The cause for this debacle can be traced back to the year 2021, when the video game developer Bungie brought a lawsuit against Mihai Claudiu-Florentin, a cheat-vending Romanian individual who had been marketing a software package called "Veteran Cheats" to unwitting players. The complaint filed by Bungie alleged various offenses, including but not limited to transgressions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), violations of the Washington Consumer Protection Act (CPA), acts of copyright infringement, breaches of contract, and deliberate interference with existing contractual relationships.
On April 27, 2023, the court ruled in favor of Bungie, ordering Claudiu-Florentin to pay $12,059,912.98 in damages. In addition, a permanent injunction was issued against Claudiu-Florentin, preventing them from further violating Destiny 2's copyright.
Bungie argued that Claudiu-Florentin "developed and sold" cheat software called VeteranCheats, which allowed players to gain an unfair advantage over others by aiming more accurately and seeing through walls. This not only diminished the enjoyment of the game for those not cheating but also reduced the potential revenue from in-game sales for Bungie.
The court's decision was unambiguous: Bungie was given $12,059,912.98 in total after receiving $11,696,000 for DMCA violations, $146,662.28 for Copyright Act violations, and $217,250.70 in attorney fees and costs. The ruling stated that Claudiu-Florentin was liable for damages, except for the CPA claim.
Bungie's deputy general counsel, James Barker, revealed that the company had spent a minimum of $2,000,000 on game security staffing and software to combat cheating devices like Veteran Cheats. The court's ruling marks the latest in a series of legal victories for Bungie against Destiny 2 cheat sellers. Previously, it was awarded $4.3 million in damages from AimJunkies and $13.5 million in damages from Elite Boss Tech.