Blizzard sues creator of ‘Buddy’ cheating bots

Blizzard Entertainment has sued the creator of a series of popular cheating bots for copyright infringement. Blizzard claims that the Buddy bots cost the company millions of dollars, while the creator would enrich himself.

Blizzard filed the case in California district court last Monday. The charges are against James Enright, who is behind some popular cheating bots under the alias Apoc. He would distribute the bots through the so-called Buddy sites, which include the HonorBuddy, DemonBuddy and StormBuddy bots, while there is also a Buddy shop. The bots can be used for grinding and gathering, among other things, to cheat on World of Warcraft, Diablo III and Heroes of the Storm.

Blizzard is seeking damages and an end to operations through the civil suit. The man infringes copyrights and acts in violation of the license he entered into when accessing the Blizzard games, according to TorrentFreak, the maker of World of Warcraft.

Blizzard’s business depends on its games being enjoyable and balanced for players of all skill levels,” the company said. However, Enright’s bots would “destroy” integrity, leaving players frustrated and neglecting the games, the claim is. This would have cost Blizzard millions of dollars while Enright would have made millions. For a Buddy you have to pay a few euros for a trial of a few days, up to 60 euros for three ‘unlimited sessions’. For a single unlimited session you have to pay 25 euros. Blizzard has been fighting the development and use of bots for years.