Epic is suing two alleged Fortnite cheaters

Just a week after it promised to come down hard on Battle Royale participants that refuse to play by the rules, Epic Games is suing two alleged Fortnite cheaters.

According to two separate complaints filed to a North Carolina federal court this week (as spotted by TorrentFreak), defendants Brandon Broom and Charles Vraspir are connected to cheat provider Addicted Cheats, acting as support personnel for the site. They are alleged to have used aimbotting software "with the deliberate intention of ruining the game for other players and players who watch streamers."

However, neither defendant is being sued for the actual act of cheating; rather, Epic is suing both parties for alleged copyright infringement, arguing that the defendants' cheating is "infringing Epic's copyrights by injecting unauthorized computer code into the copyright protected code".

In doing so it says, "Defendant is creating unauthorized derivative works of Fortnite by modifying the game code and, thus, materially altering the game that the code creates and the experience of those who play it." This, Epic argues, is in violation of Fortnite's End User License Agreement and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Fortnite's software is being intentionally modified, says Epic, to gain an unfair competitive advantage over other Fortnite players, and "in a deliberate attempt to destroy the integrity of, and otherwise wreak havoc" in Fortnite. "As a result of Defendant's contributory copyright infringement, Epic has suffered and will continue to suffer, substantial and irreparable damage to its business reputation and good will."

In an official statement to news outlets, Epic has reiterated its firm stance on cheating, "When cheaters use aimbots or other cheat technologies to gain an unfair advantage, they ruin games for people who are playing fairly. We take cheating seriously, and we'll pursue all available options to make sure our games are fun, fair, and competitive for players."