While video games can provide players with spectacular visuals, immersive stories, and competitive thrills, at the end of the day they’re all made up of thousands of lines of code. That code can be vulnerable to hackers at times, leading to some players having unfair advantages. Players of competitive shooters such asCall of Duty: Warzone,Counter Strike: Global Offensive, andDestiny 2are almost used to hackers invading and ruining their games.Destiny 2specifically has seen multiple cheats from removing players' guns in PvP toreviving allies in the Trials of Osiris.
Often, hackers who exploit the code of a given game will sell those cheats on through a website. Over the course of a few years,Destiny 2’sdeveloper Bungie has fought back against cheating websites. Back in 2020, the company issued a cease and desist to a popular cheat website, and in 2021, the hacking website GatorCheats was targeted byboth theDestiny 2creators andValorantdevelopers.
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The latest website Bungie is trying to take legal action against is known as AimJunkies. Bungie is claiming that AimJunkies was guilty of copyright and trademark infringement. TheDestiny 2cheat website though, was not willing to back down, as it argued that the software it used to hack the game was of its own work, not a copy of Bungie’s creation. The group of hackers then went on to argue that Bungie’s other claims should be kept out of court per clauses in the company’s own user license agreement.
US District Judge Thomas Zilly has largely agreed with AimJunkies' claim, stating that Bungie’s evidence is lacking in terms of the cheating website’s copyright infringement. “Notably,” Zilly began. “Bungie has not pleaded any facts explaining how the cheat software constitutes an unauthorised copy of any of the copyrighted works identified in the complaint.” This does not mark a true win for AimJunkies however, as the website was still found to be breaching trademark by using the phrase “Destiny 2Hacks.”
Zilly also ruled that Bungie’s other claims could be settled out of court. Recently, Bungie has had another issue with protecting its copyright. Rather than a hacking website be responsible for using theDestinyIP though, this occasion saw YouTubers see their videos taken down for playing the game’s music. EvenBungie’s own YouTube channelssuffered because of these actions, causing confusion amongDestiny 2fans and its developers.
Destiny 2is now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
