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Epic Games sues ‘Fortnite’ YouTuber creators over cheating software

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Fortnite Fly Explosives Guide
Epic Games takes cheating in Fortnite very seriously. If you’re caught breaking the rules in the battle royale shooter, you can expect to be banned, but you could also find yourself with legal troubles. A few YouTuber creators found that out the hard way, as Epic Games is suing them for promoting hacking software in their videos.

According to a legal filing obtained by TorrentFreak, Epic Games is suing YouTuber users Colton Conter and Brandon Lucas for allegedly “injecting unauthorized cheat software” into Fortnite‘s code, which alters the experience of other users and creates “unauthorized derivative works” of Fortnite.

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The lawsuit also mentioned that Conter and Lucas have been uploading videos to YouTube demonstrating these hacks, thus encouraging others to do the same, and that Lucas is using a personal website to sell hacking tools and “accounts pre-loaded with hacks.” Though both Conter and Lucas have been banned from the game on their original accounts, they continue to create new ones to keep playing.

Golden Modz sued by Fortnite

Epic seeks monetary damages and legal fees in the lawsuit, as well as the forfeit of profits from Lucas’ website.

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In a rundown of the facts of the case included in the legal filing, Epic Games also took the time to throw a little more shade at Conter and Lucas.

“Defendants are cheaters,” the filing said. “Nobody likes a cheater. And nobody likes playing with cheaters.”

This hasn’t stopped Lucas from uploading several videos to his channel detailing his cheating practices. The latest was posted on October 11, and Lucas openly admitted that he was using an “aimbot” tool to kill low-level players in the game. We’re not sure that this was a smart decision, given that Epic Games’ lawsuit was filed on October 10.

Lucas currently has more than 1.7 million YouTube subscribers, so Epic Games is likely concerned that his videos will lead to even more players engaging in cheating. Nearly every video he uploads includes cheating of some sort, with the majority focused on either Fortnite or Grand Theft Auto V.

Fortnite is available now on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac, iOS, and Android. The game supports cross-play on all platforms.

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Gabe Gurwin
Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
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