Earlier this week, Ubisoft filed a lawsuit against Rainbow Six: Siege cheat maker MizuSoft, which has allegedly sold "hundreds of thousands" of dollars worth of cheats to players. The lawsuit was filed on October 23 in the central district of California.
This lawsuit follows a BBC interview with a Dutch hacker who goes by the handle J.V.L. In the initial interview the hacker admitted to distributing Rainbow Six: Siege cheats online. J.V.L. claimed that some players within the “top, top ranks” of Siege are using MizuSoft’s software and also said "if Ubisoft decides to come after you for copyright infringement, you’re in for a tough time" which ended up being not too far off the mark.
On its website, which has been taken down since the lawsuit, MizuSoft calls itself “a leading cheat provider focused on providing powerful but user-friendly software.” The cheating software company also boasts a “clean detection record” as one of its primary features, letting players who use the cheats remain undetected at all levels of play, from casual to professional. The prices for the subscription sold start at 12 euros per day, over $13 USD.
In the lawsuit, Ubisoft claims MizuSoft’s cheats have been purchased by thousands of Rainbow Six Siege players, earning MizuSoft hundreds of thousands to date. Ubisoft has reportedly spent “enormous sums of money attempting to remediate the damage” caused by the software. The game publisher is asking the court for maximum damages equaling $25,000 per violation.
In another, more devious twist it turns out J.V.L. is more involved in the operation than it may initially have seemed. The proceeds from MizuSoft are collected, transmitted and processed through a web design firm called Simply San Webdesign, which is allegedly owned and operated by J.V.L.’s mother.
With the disappointing reception and sales for Ghost Recon: Breakpoint and the recent slew of Ubisoft game delays including Watch Dogs: Legion, the company is under pressure. This attempt at ringing some extra money out of hackers breaking the Siege terms of service could very well be a direct response to what could be a rough Q4 for Ubisoft. This timing could be a coincidence, though, given that Ubisoft is a historically litigious company so this kind of lawsuit is not out of the ordinary.
Rainbow Six Siege is out now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: Polygon