A small minority of gamers have the urge to artificially boost their skills and egos by using hacks and cheats.
These players generally ruin the fun for the rest, which is a serious concern for game companies.
To address this issue, several game companies including Take-Two Interactive and Epic Games, have taken cheaters to court. More recently, American video game developer Bungie joined in on the action.
Bungie is known for the Halo and Destiny series, which have millions of fans around the world. The popularity of these games also attracts cheaters, including those who used the ‘Destiny 2 Hacks’ suite that was for sale at AimJunkies.com.
Bungie Sued AimJunkies
In a complaint filed at a Seattle federal court last June, Bungie accused AimJunkies.com of copyright and trademark infringement, among other things. The same accusations were also made against Phoenix Digital Group, the alleged creators of the software.
“The cheats directly harm other players, who may quit playing because of them. This hurts the image of the game directly and could lead to a decrease in sales. At the same time, the cheaters get in-game rewards, without really earning them,” Bungie wrote.
The “Destiny 2 Hacks” listing was swiftly pulled from the AimJunkies site but an archived copy of the page remains available.
Months have now passed since the complaint was filed and the defendants have yet to file a response in court. This deadline was extended twice, as the parties indicated they were engaged in constructive settlement discussions.
Settlement Discussions & Default
The most recent extension ended two weeks ago but no response was filed. So, despite the settlement discussions, Bungie asked the court to enter a default. If granted, that would allow Bungie to continue the case without the opposition being heard.
“Defendants had until November 15, 2021 to answer or otherwise respond to the Complaint. The time for answering the Complaint has now expired, and Defendants have not appeared or answered or otherwise responded to the Complaint,” Bungie informed the court.
The defendants indeed failed to file a response to the complaint in time, as the court required. However, Bungie’s request came as a total surprise to the defendants, who believed that both parties were still trying to resolve the matter and financial compensation had been offered to Bungie.
‘Sharp Practices’
Despite the ongoing negotiations, Bungie requested a default, ‘seemingly’ out of the blue. The defense attorney classifies this as “sharp practices” and asked the court to set this request aside.
“The latest settlement terms were exchanged between the parties on November 16, 2021, including a viable monetary component addressing Plaintiff’s alleged ‘damages’, but still Plaintiff saw fit, just three days later and without notice, to attempt a default against Defendants in this Court.
“These sharp practices by Bungie, Inc. and its counsel should not be countenanced by the Court,” the defendants’ attorney adds.
Technically Bungie hasn’t done anything wrong, as the defendants indeed failed to reply in time. However, AimJunkies note that the delay on their part was due to the fact that they had to retain an attorney to represent them at the Seattle federal court. They only managed to do so recently.
Now that the defendants have the proper legal representation they promise to answer the complaint and submit a potential cross-complaint. However, in order to do so, they request a three-week extension, so they can get all the paperwork in order.
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A copy of Bungie’s motion for an entry of default is available here (pdf), and the response from Aimjunkies and the other defendants can be found here (pdf)
