Polygon has word that Ubisoft is taking legal action over
Rainbow Six
Siege cheats, saying Ubi is suing a company called MizuSoft that is alleged
to have sold ‘hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of cheats for the tactical
shooter. They say MizuSoft, perhaps unsurprisingly, is operated by a minor, but
surprisingly also involves his mother. Word is: "Ten other defendants are listed
on the lawsuit, the majority of which are being sued under their Discord names —
Ubisoft only knows who the website owner is, according to the lawsuit. Ubisoft
asking the court for maximum damages — $25,000 per violation — and to shut down
the operation." Putting aside for the moment how most of us find it inexplicable
(not to mention abhorrent) that players would pay good money ($13 a day!) to
cheat, here's an explanation of what's going down:
Ubisoft said the cheat
makers — including the site owner, called J.V.L. in the lawsuit, as he’s a minor
— have violated copyright, are “trafficking in circumvention devices,” and
encouraged Rainbow Six Siege players to breach the game’s terms of use and code
of conduct.
MizuSoft calls itself “a leading cheat provider focused on providing powerful
but user-friendly software.” On its website, MizuSoft also says it has a “clean
detection record” and is “deadset on keeping cheat undetected” as a way to keep
player’s accounts from being banned. The website has one product for sale, the
“Budget Edition Rainbow Six Siege Cheat,” which is sold as a subscription —
around $13 per day or $77 per month.
According to the lawsuit, MizuSoft is funneling the money earned through a
payment processor linked to a web design firm called Simply San Webdesign, a
company purportedly owned and operated by J.V.L.’s mother. Ubisoft said she’s
“responsible for collecting, processing, and transmitting” payments made from
the cheating software.
Ubisoft said MizuSoft’s cheats have been downloaded and used by Rainbow Six
Siege players “thousands of times,” earning the website thousands of dollars
each month. The company has reportedly spent “enormous sums of money (and vast
amounts of time) attempting to remediate the damage” caused by the
software.