Epic Games Sues 14-Year-Old Fortnite Cheater, But His Mom Fights Back

In an odd move last month, Epic Games, the studio behind Fortnite, went beyond banning two players [...]

Epic Games

In an odd move last month, Epic Games, the studio behind Fortnite, went beyond banning two players who had been caught cheating by getting the law involved. Now, it's been revealed that one of those players was a minor, and his mother intends to fight back on his behalf.

The issue started when the player, who is 14 years old, used custom botting services in order to take out Twitch streamers within the game. The player was an associate of a website known as Addictive Cheats, and the botting service, according to Epic Games, operates in a way that goes against Fortnite's s End User License Agreement and the Copyright Act.

The player's mom is hitting back at the suit, which might not even have legs given that the company cannot directly sue a minor. She says that she never gave consent for her child to make purchases within the game, and points out that Epic -- in releasing her child's identity -- has violated Delaware laws regarding public information on minors. In a detailed letter, the player's mother pointed out that Epic should be going after the website and developer of the botting tool, as her son only downloaded and used it, and also said that Epic should provide proof of mass damages lost in revenue due to her son's actions.

To elaborate, these bots specifically monitor Twitch player streams and directly attack those players in order to make sure they cannot win. One of the defendants in the case told Kotaku that the reason they enjoy this practice, known as Stream Sniping, is because they find it "fun to rage and see streamers cry about how loaded they are and then get them stomped anyways." Cheaters wishing to use bots like these usually pay between $5-$15 for the service, and that's where things get super tricky legally, especially for game studios that rely on streamers for marketing.

Fortnite is available now for PlayStation 4, PC, and Xbox One.

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