Last month, Blizzard demanded $8.5 million from cheat maker Bossland as part of an ongoing legal battle. Now, in absence of any defense from the Honor Buddy (WoW) and Watchover Tyrant (Overwatch) creator, the court has sided with Blizzard.
The court has granted Blizzard statutory copyright damages totaling out to $8,563,600. Bossland also owes Blizzard $174,872 in attorneys’ fees. Further, Bossland is prohibited from selling programs that exploit Blizzard’s games in the United States.
“Blizzard has established a showing of resulting damage or harm because Blizzard expends a substantial amount of money combating the use of the Bossland Hacks to ensure fair game play,” the court said (via TorrentFreak).
“Additionally, players of the Blizzard Games lodge complaints against cheating players, which has caused users to grow dissatisfied with the Blizzard Games and cease playing. Accordingly, the in-game cheating also harms Blizzard’s goodwill and reputation.”
Before the judgement was issued, Bossland CEO Zwetan Letschew told TorrentFreak that his company would continue in spite of any default judgement that might occur. Exactly how they plan to do that remains unclear, especially given the disappearing act they pulled while these proceedings were unfolding. For now, Blizzard has won a battle, but not the war. This judgement only applies to the United States, so Bossland isn’t out of options yet.