“Selling compromised player accounts and cheat technologies puts people’s information at risk and ruins the experience for people who are playing fairly,” said Epic in their recent statement on the issue. “We take the illegal sale of these items seriously and we’ll pursue all available options to make sure our games remain fun, fair, and never pay-to-win.”
In today's gaming climate, most kids expect nothing more than a ban in-game when caught cheating. Though, Epic Games though decided to take their action a step further when pursuing their latest Fortnite cheater.
Epic Games was not playing around when they took Australian Fortnite cheater, Brandon Despotakis, otherwise known online as "BlazeFN", to court for selling Fortnite cheats and compromised Fortnite accounts.
Here is the scoop.
Epic Games is not playing around when it comes to Fortnite Cheaters
The popular gaming company made sure that people understood that selling cheats and compromised accounts are not okay. The hacker's shop included aimbot hacks, "Full Access V-Bucks" accounts, and inactive accounts that had rare and unused skins.
The selling of these hacks and accounts violates the Fortnite end user license agreement (EULA) and their terms of service. It also infringed on Fortnite's copyright.
"Selling compromised player accounts and cheat technologies puts people’s information at risk and ruins the experience for people who are playing fairly," said Epic in their recent statement on the issue. "We take the illegal sale of these items seriously and we’ll pursue all available options to make sure our games remain fun, fair, and never pay-to-win.”
Despotakis released a statement via Twitter on May 9 apologizing for his wrongdoings per court order. This was approximately one week after the court had reached a verdict.
"I’d like to apologize to the Fortnite community. What I did was illegal and gave players an unfair advantage over other people who play by the rules. I won’t do this ever again," said Despotakis in his apology.
In the end, the entire amount of damages that Despotakis was forced to pay is being donated directly to Child's Play. Child's Play is a charity that is dedicated to improving the lives of children and teens in children’s hospitals around the world.
These actions taken by Epic should hopefully set a precedent for future hackers involved in gaming. There is no place in this community for people compromising others' information and ruining the integrity of esports.
Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest Fortnite news and updates.