Call of Duty streamer accidentally reveals he's cheating, loses his Twitch channel

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MrGolds was bragging about how good he is in Call of Duty: Warzone while the EngineOwning cheat was clearly visible.

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(Image credit: Activision)

Call of Duty: Warzone streamer MrGolds found himself in a rather awkward situation recently. In the middle of a stream—while he was regaling his audience of nearly 1800 viewers about how good he is at the game—a cheat engine he appeared to be using popped up on his desktop for all the world to see.

The moment came while MrGolds was waiting in a Warzone lobby, and was clipped and shared to Twitter by Era7e, who also streams Call of Duty on Twitch.

"Just because I have good recoil [control], I'm good at the game," MrGolds says during the fateful moment. "The first time you see someone good at the game—now I'm talking with you guys because you really—I play, and I look at the chat, and it's like, what's going on? You know what I'm saying? What's going on, guys? Have you ever seen anyone play like me?"

Unfortunately for MrGolds, an EngineOwning window is clearly visible in the background of his desktop, underneath the Task Manager. EngineOwning promises "high quality cheats" for a variety of games including Modern Warfare and Warzone: "We believe that everyone should have the ability to win and enjoy online matches," the EngineOwning website says.

MrGolds appeared to deny that he was cheating in an Instagram post saying that he was "not hacking yesterday." The message is a bit hard to decipher, I suspect because English is not his first language, but the intent is clear enough. He also indicates that at some point after this incident, he streamed with a background camera that "showed u no background programs" running on his monitor, presumably to prove that he doesn't need to cheat to win.

Despite his protests of innocence, Twitch appears to see the matter differently, as his channel is now gone. Twitch's community guidelines clearly and specifically forbids cheating in online games: "Any activity, such as cheating, hacking, botting, or tampering, that gives the account owner an unfair advantage in an online multiplayer game, is prohibited. This also includes exploiting another broadcaster's live broadcast in order to harass them in-game, such as stream sniping."

It's not known whether this is a permanent ban or just a temporary suspension, but it's an amusing bit of comeuppance either way. Unfortunately, it also highlights Warzone's ongoing problems with cheaters, which have persisted even after Infinity Ward asked everyone to please stop cheating.

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.