Runescape developer Jagex has won a legal victory against two individuals who developed bot and macro tools specifically to cheat in their game. The ruling brought an end to a case that had been going for two years.
Impulse Software, the company owned by brothers Mark and Eric Snellman, was ordered to hand over all code relating to their illegal botting activities, as well as the details of all the customers they sold to.
There were damages to be paid to Jagex, but no details were given as to exactly how much, although a statement from Jagex revealed costs on their side to be "seven figure".
There was an apology from the Snellman Brothers posted on the Runescape Forum: "Throughout the court of this lawsuit, we've come to understand the harm that botting does to RuneScape and Jagex. We'd like to apologize to Jagex and to all legitimate RuneScape players for the damage and harm iBOT has done."
In a press release Mark Gerhard, CEO & CTO of Jagex, said: "We began the legal action against the Snellmans over two years ago as a part of our ongoing commitment to ridding RuneScape of bots and gold farmers. Faced with this significant challenge we have continued to demonstrate that we will never shy away from difficult battles, we don't compromise on taking the right course of action and, regardless of the time, money or effort involved we always do what it takes in order to protect our community".
He then added: "We have spared no expense fighting this case, as demonstrated by the seven figure bill this action has cost, but the point of this and other cases of its kind, is that we will continue bring to justice those who set out to harm the game or our beloved community. We are delighted to say that we have convincingly neutered them after a very long battle."