X

Activision asks court for real identities of Call of Duty cheats sellers

Social media, Steam, payments-processing and Github accounts could be used to track them down, Activision says.

Corinne Reichert Senior Editor
Corinne Reichert (she/her) grew up in Sydney, Australia and moved to California in 2019. She holds degrees in law and communications, and currently writes news, analysis and features for CNET across the topics of electric vehicles, broadband networks, mobile devices, big tech, artificial intelligence, home technology and entertainment. In her spare time, she watches soccer games and F1 races, and goes to Disneyland as often as possible.
Expertise News, mobile, broadband, 5G, home tech, streaming services, entertainment, AI, policy, business, politics Credentials
  • I've been covering technology and mobile for 12 years, first as a telecommunications reporter and assistant editor at ZDNet in Australia, then as CNET's West Coast head of breaking news, and now in the Thought Leadership team.
See full bio
Corinne Reichert
auto

Cheats are sold for multiple Call of Duty games.

 Activision

Activision is seeking the real names and identities of the makers of cheat software being sold to Call of Duty players. In a Thursday filing with the United States District Court Central District of California, Activision has asked "for leave to serve fifteen subpoenas necessary for Activision to learn the identities of unnamed or alias 'Doe' Defendants in this action and to ensure that all necessary parties have been named in this lawsuit." The filing was spotted earlier by Axios.

Activision is proposing to use social media, payment processors, domain name services, Github code repositories and Steam to track down the cheat makers' names, addresses, email addresses, IP addresses and other identifiable information. The defendants have also "created accounts and groups intended to 'troll' Activision and its counsel," Activision alleged Thursday.

The original complaint was filed Jan. 4.

"Activision has spent and continues to spend an enormous amount of resources to combat cheating in its games," the complaint says. "Notwithstanding those efforts, defendants' sale and distribution of the cheating software has caused Activision to suffer massive and irreparable damage to its goodwill and reputation and to lose substantial revenue."

Activision didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.