A Fortnite participant who constantly cheated in aggressive tournaments has been handed an enormous high-quality and banned from the sport "eternally," developer Epic Video games has mentioned.
Sebastian Araujo from Lomita, California, was sued by Epic after taking part in 839 money tournaments inside simply 4 months, whereas utilizing a tool designed to evade Fortnite's anti-cheat detection.
In accordance to Epic, which received its authorized motion towards Araujo this week after he tried to ignore the lawsuit, the participant's winnings amounted to "not less than $6,850." That's no small quantity, however his high-quality now could be 25 instances larger: an unlimited $175,521.
How has Epic landed on such a determine? Courtroom documentation shared with IGN reveals the developer demanded the statutory minimal $200 high-quality for every violation of the sport's copyright for all 839 tournaments Araujo took half in — for a complete of $167,800. The rest of the high-quality is then principally legal professional charges and prices.
"Whereas the Courtroom notes the quantity sought by Plaintiff exceedingly surpasses Defendant's alleged precise achieve, $6,850, Defendant took vital measures to conceal the true scope of his dishonest actions by creating a number of faux accounts and using a {hardware} spoofer to circumvent detections," the courtroom documentation reads.
Additional examination reveals Epic had pushed for an excellent larger high-quality — with an extra $100,000 penalty in statutory damages for copyright infringement — although it's right here that the decide determined this quantity would have been "extreme" versus Araujo's precise ill-gotten good points.
If it appears like Epic is making an instance out of Araujo, then it wouldn't be the primary time. Again in February 2025, Epic humiliated another Fortnite tournament cheater by forcing them to submit a public apology video acknowledging that they had cheated, and had been equally now banned for all times.
As with that case, the cash Araujo should now pay shall be donated by Epic to Little one's Play, a charity devoted to bettering the lives of kids by offering entry to toys and video games.
Each circumstances observe a promise made back in November 2024, when Epic mentioned it was "ramping up authorized motion towards each gamers who cheat and cheat sellers," because it sought to bolster "aggressive integrity in tournaments."
This newest public announcement, eye-watering high-quality and lifelong ban are all doubtless designed to act as deterrants for every other gamers with concepts of doing the identical.
Tom Phillips is IGN's Information Editor. You may attain Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or discover him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social