Judge orders Call of Duty cheaters to pay Activision $14 million

Activision has solidified itself with another victory in an ongoing legal battle against a creator of Call of Duty cheats, which it then sold on a website.

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The company sued EngineOwning back in 2022 and since then has been engaged in a legal battle over the cheats the entity made and then sold on its website. Notably, District Judge Michael Fitzgerald ordered several defendants to pay Activision, including EngineOwning, which was ordered to pay $14,465,600 for creating and distributing Call of Duty cheats. Furthermore, the cheat maker was ordered to give its website to Activision, stop creating cheats, stop selling cheats, and pay nearly $300,000 in attorney fees to Activision.

Notably, Activision has already won $3 million in a two settlements from Ignacio Gayduchenko and Manuel Santiago, who are reportedly involved with EngineOwning. As for the most recent orders, the court filings name the founders of EngineOwning, Valetin Rick, and Leon Risch, along with several others that were also involved in the operation.

Specifically, the judge found the creators behind the Call of Duty cheats guilty of violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, along with the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Furthermore, the judge found the defendants guilty of "intentionally" coersing players to purchase cheats while knowing the use of cheats are against Call of Duty's terms of use.