Destiny 2 cheat maker countersues Bungie for hacking, judge tells them to prove it

Destiny 2
(Image credit: Bungie)

A judge has dismissed a Destiny 2 cheat maker's attempts to countersue Bungie for allegedly hacking a private computer and breaking the terms of service of the cheats it sells, with the judge essentially telling the company to come back and prove its claims. 

AimJunkies, which proudly sells "cheats and mods that give a user an improved experience and an advantage" for dozens of games, countersued Bungie in September for allegedly falling afoul of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and conducting "unauthorized and clandestine surveillance of private records." 

As TorrentFreak spotted, a new court document signed by judge Thomas Zilly categorically dismisses AimJunkies claims of computer fraud and abuse, anti-circumvention, and breach of contract. The court notes that defendant James May, an individual within AimJunkies, "has not sufficiently pleaded the requisite loss necessary to pursue a [Computer Fraud and Abuse Act] action," which specifies a loss of $5,000 or more. 

"Moreover, May has failed to sufficiently allege that Bungie accessed his personal computer and files without authorization," the document continues. "To support his allegation that Bungie accessed his personal computer, May relies on a document that Bungie purportedly produced during discovery in this matter. May, however, does not explain what this document is or how it evidences instances in which Bungie allegedly accessed his computer without authorization and downloaded his personal information." 

The rest of the dismissals read very similarly. The court states AimJunkies parent Phoenix Digital "has not sufficiently pleaded damages" resulting from the alleged breach of contract. Regarding anti-circumvention claims, the court adds: "Further, Phoenix Digital has not pleaded any facts to support that its 'loader software' was protected by a technological measure. Instead, Phoenix Digital merely recites this element of the cause of action." 

All that being said, the court has given May and Phoenix Digital time to amend their claims. The defendants have until November 21 to file amended claims; if things stay the way they are, this case may end up like Bungie's previous lawsuits against cheaters and lead to a settlement. 

Bungie lawyers clearly maintain that suing cheaters is "good business."

Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with 12DOVE since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.

Read more
Venom, Spider-Man, Peni Parker, Scarlet Witch, Magneto, and Storm pose in artwork for Marvel Rivals
Marvel Rivals devs lift bans on players mistakenly banned for cheating: "We do not and will not ban players who are playing fairly"
Fortnite character Jonesy looks shocked in the story trailer for Season X.
Fortnite is now giving cheaters "second chances" with 1-year bans that allow you to use the battle royale like it's Discord and do absolutely nothing else until you're freed from the void
Key art for Destiny 2's Heresy Episode.
"A fun example of a bug becoming a feature": Destiny 2 accidentally made Exotic Glaives free to all classes, and Bungie says "we're going to let this ride"
Key art for Dark and Darker.
2 years after Dark and Darker was first pulled from Steam, Korean court rules that developer Ironmace must pay Nexon $5.87 million for trade secret infringement
Invisible Woman in her Marvel Rivals character reveal trailer, surrounded by projectiles
Marvel Rivals bans popular third-party plugin: "We deem this program as cheating," but "fear not" if you've been using it
A player wearing a gasmask and holding a gun during the shooter, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
136,000 Call of Duty accounts have gotten banned since ranked launched for Black Ops 6: "We’re not slowing down in our mission to shut down cheaters"
Latest in Destiny
Key art for Destiny 2's Heresy Episode.
"A fun example of a bug becoming a feature": Destiny 2 accidentally made Exotic Glaives free to all classes, and Bungie says "we're going to let this ride"
Destiny 2 Episode 3 Heresy screenshot of Eris Morn
Destiny 2's new Episode suggested the upcoming Apollo expansion will launch on July 15, but that date has mysteriously been scrubbed from the game
Destiny 2 Guardian in Taken energy
Bungie yanked Destiny 2 servers offline for emergency maintenance as Episode 3: Heresy got off to a rocky start, but it looks like we're back in business
Destiny 2 Star Wars armor sets
"Oryx is back": Destiny 2's final Episode takes the MMO to the site of the iconic Taken King expansion for a Coil-inspired roguelite mode, and also Star Wars armor
Destiny 2 guardian in scorn armor
How to get Destiny 2 Twitch Drops and link your accounts
Destiny 2 Kell's Fall art
The Destiny 2 dev behind Titan's game-changing Banner of War was also on its new Exotic shotgun Slayer's Fang: "I gotta live up to this, especially as my first gun"
Latest in News
Balatro
Balatro creator started "properly playing the game myself about a week before launch" and had "a pretty emotional moment" where he realized it's "actually fun"
Death Stranding 2 Collector's Edition
Hideo Kojima reveals Death Stranding 2: On the Beach release date, and the Collector's Edition includes exactly what I predicted it would
Kingmakers
Kingmakers is a strategy game about taking on medieval armies with a gun, but its devs thought the giant mech was too much
The Witcher 3 lead says "not many games" were trying to match the RPG back in 2015, and that meant "there was a risk" to making it in the first place
The Blood of Dawnwalker
The Witcher 3 dev says his new vampire RPG Blood of Dawnwalker wants to challenge genre conventions, but only if "we're changing them to actually achieve some goal"
Daredevil recap: The Defenders
Marvel fans are discussing which of the Netflix series characters would have survived the Blip