Blizzard Sues Creators of Overwatch Cheat Program for Copyright Infringement

Germany company Bossland has created and is selling “Watchover Tyrant,” a cheat program for Blizzard’s Overwatch. Watchover Tyrant allows users to constantly see both enemy and teammate locations, health and distance, destroying the balance Blizzard has crafted for the competitive multiplayer game. Blizzard has filed a lawsuit against Bossland, citing copyright infringement, Torrent Freak reports.

“Defendants’ [Bossland] sale and distribution of the Bossland Hacks [Watchover Tyrant] in the United States has caused Blizzard to lose millions or tens of millions of dollars in revenue, and to suffer irreparable damage to its goodwill and reputation,” Blizzard’s complaint filed with the Central District Court of California reads. It continues:

Defendants not only know that their conduct is unlawful, but they engage in that conduct with the deliberate intent to harm Blizzard and its business. Blizzard is entitled to monetary damages, injunctive and other equitable relief, and punitive damages against Defendants.

Bossland’s site advertises that Overwatch Tyrant has more than 260,000 registered users. Blizzard has been on the offensive, banning thousands of cheating players, and is now trying to strike one of the biggest facilitators of cheating. However, according to Bossland CEO Zwetan Letschew, the lawsuit may not be much use, as a California court has no jurisdiction over his company based in Germany.

This is not the first time Blizzard has come to blows with Bossland. Bossland has made and sells cheating programs for Blizzard’s other games, such as World of Warcraft, Diablo 3 and Heroes of the Storm. “There are over 10 ongoing legal battles in Germany already,” Letschew told Torrent Freak. Bossland has even counter-sued Blizzard over the alleged theft of the source code for their Heroes of the Storm cheating program. Hopefully Blizzard can put a stop to this cheating, though given how long Bossland has been hacking Blizzard’s games, any resolution may not come soon.