A South Korean Overwatch hacker was sentenced to one year in prison and two years of probation due to his violation of the Game Industry Promotion Law and the Information and Communication Technology Protection Law.
The jail time that the 28-year-old man is facing should serve as a reminder that the hero Sombra is the only allowed hacker in Overwatch.
South Korean 'Overwatch' Hacker Faces Jail Time
Two Overwatch hackers were sentenced earlier this year, one with two years of probation and the other with a fine of 10 million won, which is about $10,000.
A new sentencing by the Icheon District Court placed a harsher punishment of one year in prison and two years of probation to a third Overwatch hacker. While the first two people were penalized with only probation and a fine, the third person is facing jail time due to the large profit that he gained from the Overwatch hack that he created, equivalent to about 200 million won or around $180,000.
South Korean police arrested 13 hackers and match-fixers in January, including the three aforementioned men who already received their sentences. That leaves 10 people still waiting for judgment.
Over the last year, Blizzard has worked with the cybersecurity department of the Seoul National Police Agency to eliminate hacks that compromise the integrity of Overwatch, particularly because of the Overwatch League and its prominent place in the esports industry.
Overwatch cheats come in many forms, including scripts that enable automatic headshots, tools that allow for match fixing, and boosting, which is a practice of manipulating players' ranks in the game's competitive mode.
Blizzard Vs 'Overwatch' Cheating Problem
The results of the trials against the South Korean hackers show that Blizzard is still pushing hard on its crackdown on Overwatch cheating.
The crusade started almost as soon as the massively popular multiplayer shooter was launched in May 2016. By the following month, Blizzard already started banning Overwatch cheaters, and by July, it filed a lawsuit against a company behind Overwatch cheating tool Watchover Tyrant.
In April last year, Blizzard won a copyright infringement case against Bossland, the creator of cheating software for several games that include Overwatch and World of Warcraft. The Germany-based company was ordered to pay about $8.6 million in damages.
Meanwhile, Blizzard is continuing to release Overwatch updates that are meant to keep the multiplayer shooter interesting for its millions of players, with one of the upcoming changes being the long-awaited Symmetra rework.
