It was Game Over so the Chinese authorities say it was the largest gang of video game pirates in the world. Ten people were arrested for selling cheating software for best-selling games, including Call of Duty and Overwatch.
Authorities confiscated $ 76 million, along with luxury cars and other assets from the alleged illicit company.
The deception has become an epidemic in Sports, also known as competitive video games and as reported by Lucy Craft of CBS News, this has made it a fertile ground hacking.
Serkan Toto, a video game analyst, said cheating unions like the one that was ripped off in China and that hackers have been operating with impunity for some time.
“They’re extremely professional. If you look at some of the website deals, they have shopping carts, they have price lists, and they have customer service,” Toto told CBS News. He compared the websites that hackers create and use with Amazon. “Some of these companies [are] scratching millions and millions every month. And the scale is really amazing in some cases, and so are the benefits. ”
China ‘s repression reveals the dark side of competitive video games, where the main stars who play alone or in teams earn seven figures.
The online game catches so many eyeballs that it has become a political tool. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez played live playing on the Twitch gaming platform last year while hundreds of thousands have tuned in.
Japan has a whole hotel dedicated to sports. The e-ZONe hotel opened last year in the western Japanese city of Osaka. Manager Takahiro Shimamoto said most adult guests check into the hotel on Friday and play throughout the weekend. Bathed sardine-type bunk beds with game lighting are available on the upper floor.
Most people don’t have quick reflexes like professional players, who are part of what makes some cheat so irresistible. Instead of being crushed in competition, using traps can give players a shooter target and let them see through walls like the superman.
Sports lag behind Japan compared to neighbors in South Korea and China, where they have seen astronomical growth, but online players are known to take shortcuts wherever they are.
“When we first opened [the hotel], we caught three cheaters, “Shimamoto said.
This year, it is expected that nearly half a million fans will be able to watch Sports. With revenue well on track to surpass $ 1 billion, the industry’s cheating plague victory will remain at the center.