Seattle judge dismisses part of Bungie's case against cheat developers

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Show them what aimbots, er… the Light can do, Guardian.

calus on his throne
(Image credit: Bungie)

Destiny 2 developer Bungie has hit a snag in its legal campaign against cheat developers, with a Seattle judge dismissing its copyright infringement argument (via TorrentFreak) against cheat maker AimJunkies.

For those unfamiliar, numerous competitive PC games have their own ecosystems of paid cheating software, selling subscription-based external programs to enable classic multiplayer bugbears like aimbots, wall hacks, or invulnerability.

AimJunkies, however, has managed to undermine part of Bungie's lawsuit, at least for the time being. A major element of Bungie's case against AimJunkies is an allegation of "copyright infringement" through the creation and sale of AimJunkies' Destiny cheats. The cheat maker's counter argument is that its software is an original creation, and thus doesn't constitute an "unauthorized copy of any of the copyrighted works identified in the complaint."

While the copyright infringement portion of its case has been dismissed, the remainder of Bungie's lawsuit, which alleges trademark infringement and "false designation of origin" against AimJunkies and its parent company, Phoenix Digital Group, can move forward into arbitration. Bungie also has leave to beef up its copyright infringement case for reconsideration by May 27.

While paid cheat services are not exactly my favorite aspect of PC gaming—Destiny in particular got really bad back in 2020—I am sympathetic to the logic behind this dismissal. The program created by AimJunkies does seem to be an entirely unique creation and doesn't "copy" work by Bungie, as it were. There may be more compelling legal logic to express how it undermines Bungie's product or violates the EULA.

Ted Litchfield
Associate Editor

Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister's copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he's not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch. You can follow Ted on Bluesky.