Makers of cheats for the online version of Grand Theft Auto will have their homes searched, computers seized and assets frozen thanks to a lawsuit filed by GTA's developer and publisher.
Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive filed the lawsuit in the Federal Court of Australia, and the court has issued a range of orders, including forbidding the named defendants from cheating or helping others cheat, with the possibility of imprisonment if they do not comply.
The named defendants, Christopher Anderson, Cycus Lesser, Sfinktah, Koroush Anderson, and Koroush Jeddian, will also have their homes searched, computer equipment seized, and assets up to $AUD286,609.80 ($USD204,066.18) frozen.
According to information obtained by TorrentFreak, the searches have already been carried out last month, but the freezing order has remained in place.
Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive are suing on copyright grounds and will most likely be seeking damages. The defendants have been accused of developing cheat tools that allowed gamers to teleport themselves to various locations within the GTA Online universe, manipulating the virtual currency in the game, activating a "god" mode feature and implementing something called a "super jump".
Game developers and publishers rely heavily on income from online games, and cheating is a serious problem that turns off other legitimate players from the game, as well as denying publishers income from the sale of virtual items paid for by virtual and real currency.
[via TorrentFreak]
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