Ubisoft suing hackers that sold ‘hundreds of thousands of dollars’ in Rainbow Six Siege cheats

Rainbow Six Siege developer Ubisoft is suing cheat provider MizuSoft, which the company says has sold “hundreds of thousands of dollars” worth of cheats. In a lawsuit filed on Oct. 23 in California, Ubisoft alleged MizuSoft’s operators are selling and servicing cheating programs that increase weapon damage, expand a player’s field of vision, and show hidden enemies, among other things.

Ubisoft said the cheat makers — including the site owner, called J.V.L. in the lawsuit, as he’s a minor — have violated copyright, are “trafficking in circumvention devices,” and encouraged Rainbow Six Siege players to breach the game’s terms of use and code of conduct.

MizuSoft calls itself “a leading cheat provider focused on providing powerful but user-friendly software.” On its website, MizuSoft also says it has a “clean detection record” and is “deadset on keeping cheat undetected” as a way to keep player’s accounts from being banned. The website has one product for sale, the “Budget Edition Rainbow Six Siege Cheat,” which is sold as a subscription — around $13 per day or $77 per month.

According to the lawsuit, MizuSoft is funneling the money earned through a payment processor linked to a web design firm called Simply San Webdesign, a company purportedly owned and operated by J.V.L.’s mother. Ubisoft said she’s “responsible for collecting, processing, and transmitting” payments made from the cheating software.

Ubisoft said MizuSoft’s cheats have been downloaded and used by Rainbow Six Siege players “thousands of times,” earning the website thousands of dollars each month. The company has reportedly spent “enormous sums of money (and vast amounts of time) attempting to remediate the damage” caused by the software. Rainbow Six Siege was released on Windows PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on 2015. In 2016 the company began issuing permanent bans for players that cheated — even if it was their first offense. This year, Ubisoft announced it’s started handing out suspensions for players that abuse Rainbow Six Siege’s chat system in an attempt to create lag for other players.

Ten other defendants are listed on the lawsuit, the majority of which are being sued under their Discord names — Ubisoft only knows who the website owner is, according to the lawsuit. Ubisoft asking the court for maximum damages — $25,000 per violation — and to shut down the operation.

Neither MizuSoft nor Ubisoft have responded to Polygon by publication time.

Update: A Ubisoft representative told Polygon is does not comment on “ongoing legal matters.”