Tencent Games and Krafton have won a lawsuit against a PUBG Mobile hacking group that distributed cheats to players. Earlier this week, federal courts in the US and Germany ordered the group to pay $10 million in damages to game developers.
Describing the decision as a "resounding victory" for the video game industry's war against cheaters, Tencent and Krafton said they would use the funds they received in the mobile battle royale title to further develop anti-cheat technology.
In addition to ordering the defendants to cease their illegal cheat development activities, the courts also instructed them to provide details on how they used PUBG Mobile to perform the hacks.
This victory comes after police in China suppressed a massive video game cheating operation last year in a joint effort with Tencent Games. Local police described the operation as the "world's largest" fraud case, after large sums of money and assets were recovered, including luxury cars.
“Millions of players around the world are enjoying PUBG Mobile and we will ensure an equal playing field for all,” Rick Li, the producer of PUBG Mobile at Tencent Games, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the actions of hacker groups undermine the fairness of the game. These Judgments send a clear message that we will not tolerate cheating in PUBG Mobile.”
Tencent also publishes a weekly "Ban Pan report" showing the number of hackers banned. The latest report, which includes data from December 24 to 30, showed that 827.365 accounts were banned. In addition, hundreds of Facebook and Instagram accounts that shared cheating were closed.
