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‘Paragon’ Developer, Epic Games, Sues Gamer For ‘World’s Most Powerful’ Cheats

By David Cornell
Published on: 07:47 PST, Jun 17, 2016

Cheating didn’t pay in Paragon, when developer Epic Games sued a gamer over it. The free-to-play MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) title set to be released soon this year didn’t even have a chance to be released when Robin Kreibich of Kostanz, Germany began selling a set of cheats which allowed people to alter the way the early beta played on the Windows version.

The gamer in question had created a way to install aim-bots and trigger bots, as well as radars which showed where all enemies are. In the same way as hacks in games like Diablo III and other competitive or cooperative titles, this can ruin the game for players trying to stay honest. Blizzard and Ubisoft have been known to take action against hackers, banning players who are caught using cheats or simply preventing them from sharing items with other players by crashing their game.

Epic Games is suing gamer Robin Kreibich because his cheats were helping gamers get too powerful, with a monthly subscription. He advertised it on a cheat site using the title, “world’s most powerful hack for Paragon.” The ad claimed that the cheat couldn’t be detected. The problem with that claim is that every internet connection uses a unique IP address, which tells anyone watching who and where you are. Accepting payment would require some form of identification on behalf of the seller, and that is how Epic Games likely found Kreibich.

Paragon had been in development for three years, about average for any major IP these days. Even games notorious for their yearly releases, like Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed, are actually handled by a variety of teams in rotation. All of that effort would have been wasted during the making of Paragon, which had entered an open Beta in March this year, because one hacker found a way to make money helping subscribers cheat.

On June 1 and June 6, before suing the gamer, Epic Games ordered two videos to be taken off YouTube, and posted on the hacker’s channel. Kreibich filed a counter claim on June 8 to have the videos put back. These videos explained how the hack works and gave detailed information on it. This was when the Paragon developer took further action and the lawsuit began.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO-in0uiiFA

Epic Games is suing gamer Kreibich for copyright infringement, unfair competition, and breach of contract. The contract was the one included in the terms of use for the open beta of Paragon. All current copies of the game are ordered to be destroyed as Epic Games follows up the lawsuit with a complete overhaul of the game to ensure that the cheats don’t work anymore. They are also assessing possible damages from the “world’s most powerful hack” and the ensuing trial, and plan on ordering Kreibich to pay up.

The cheater’s shenanigans may have also make a major Paragon patch due to the overhaul needed to ensure those cheats he sold are unusable.

Game developers hate cheaters. It makes their hard work that much harder having to punish the perpetrators, and those who don’t cheat don’t think it’s fun going up against someone who has that much of an advantage. With Epic Games suing a gamer for making a profit on a hack, the message is clear.

Don’t do it.

MORE RELATED STORIES:

‘Paragon’ Developer Epic Games Announces Retail Edition For The Free-To-Play MOBA, Releases In June

‘Paragon’ MOBA On PS4, PC Enters Early Access This Month, All Characters Can Be Unlocked For Free

‘The Division’ Cracks Down On Cheaters As Ubisoft Outlines Harsher Punishments

[Feature image via Epic Games]

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