Blizzard Seeks Damages Totalling $8.5M From Game Bot Company

Bossland GmbH, a company offering automaton or ‘bot’ software services for World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Hearthstone has landed in some serious hot water with Blizzard Entertainment, which dates back all the way to July 2016.

Essentially, Bossland’s software enables anyone who registers to game the system, which according to Blizzard ruins the experience for gamers who are playing without cheats. Blizzard has already won a legal battle with the company in the German Court of Justice, which ruled that Bossland’s bots messed up the game’s (World of Warcarft) economy by giving bot users unfair advantages, as well as causing a deficit of some in-game market items. The current case in question pertains to the United States, and if Blizzard emerges successful, the company will receive $8.5 million USD in minimum statutory damages. Punishment for cheating in video games, particularly in competitive multiplayer games and eSports, has become a hefty issue in recent years – a trend which will likely continue.

The German company, which according to its website has been in operation since 2009, attempted to have the case dismissed, but failed due to lack of jurisdiction.