A court case pitting Krafton Inc. and Tencent Games–developer and publisher of PUBG Mobile, respectively–against a hacking group accused of distributing cheaters for the game has ended with Krafton and Tencent victorious.
Federal courts in both the United States and Germany ruled in favor of the two companies, ordering the hacking group to pay around $10 million in damages and restitution to the firms. The group was found to be creating and distributing hacks and cheats to other users, giving the recipients unfair advantages in the game. Krafton and Tencent’s restitution will be put toward stronger anti-cheat measures in the future.
“Millions of players worldwide enjoy PUBG Mobile and we will ensure a level playing field for everyone,” Rick Li, producer on PUBG Mobile, said in the official release. “Sadly, the actions of hacker groups undermine the fairness of the game. These judgments send a clear message that we will not tolerate cheating.”
The hacker group has also been ordered to provide details on how they were able to exploit the game for the cheats, as well as any collaborators in their efforts.
Tencent and Krafton have announced they will invest the received funds in further anti-cheat technology, including the recently released “device ban feature” which can ban specific devices from logging into PUBG Mobile or creating new accounts. The decision is the latest in a legal war being waged against online cheat distributors, with Activision Blizzard recently suing another site over Call of Duty Warzone cheats.
PUBG is not the only Esports game that has been struggling with cheat codes, but it is not so different from the tradional sports problems – Esports problems are digital, traditional have human problems like doping.
