Epic Games Wants To Sue 14-Year-Old Fortnite Cheater, Gets Owned By Mother

When it comes to cheaters in online games, the usual recourse of developers is simply to ban them. However, Epic Games, the developer of the game Fortnite has gone one step further by actually suing one of the players of the game. While the gamer did use a cheat, he is also only 14 years old and now his mother has released her own legal arguments to have the lawsuit thrown out.

As The Verge notes, suing a player for cheating in an online game is considered an extreme measure and quite unorthodox. That’s why Epic Games’ decision to do so sparked a huge debate, with one side praising the developers and the other saying that it was too harsh. It would seem that the mother of the teen who is getting sued agrees with the latter group, as her own legal note indicates.

Basically, she is arguing for the lawsuit to be thrown out simply because Epic Games has no legal legs to stand on to pursue the charges against her son. The sum of the points she brought up include her son not being the creator of the cheat software nor did he distribute the tool.

What’s more, there are also some technical discrepancies in the EULA of the game, which involves parental consent for underage players. The mother argues that since she never gave her permission, it made the studio’s case void.

Now, it’s worth noting that there is another side to this story. Epic Games explained that the lawsuit was only made necessary because the underage player filed a DMCA counterclaim when the studio tried to have a YouTube video of the gaming session involving the cheat taken down, Mashable reports.

"This particular lawsuit arose as a result of the defendant filing a DMCA counterclaim to a takedown notice on a YouTube video that exposed and promoted Fortnite Battle Royale cheats and exploits. Under these circumstances, the law requires that we file suit or drop the claim," the studio explains.