Abstract:
Activision recently released a video showing legal representatives going to the residence of Elocarry, a well-known "Call of Duty" plug-in seller in Ohio, USA, to deliver legal documents to him to cease infringement and terminate related activities. Activision said it has disrupted the operations of more than 375 plug-in dealers, issued more than 80 legal requests to cease and desist related activities, and closed more than 30 plug-in suppliers.
This video was released by the official account of "Call of Duty" and is about one minute in length. In the video, a legal representative arrives at Elocarry's home and hands over relevant documents. The whole process was very short, and Elocarry seemed relatively calm, but after formal negotiations with Activision lawyers, his attitude may be different.
Elocarry's website lists plug-ins for games such as "Rust", "ARC Raiders", "Marvel Contest" and "Apex Legends", with functions including auto-aim and ESP perspective. He is also reported to have sold cheat packages for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Warzone, claiming that these cheats were able to evade detection by the Ricochet anti-cheat system. Related plug-ins provide subscription services for up to three months, with prices up to $108.
Activision later released a follow-up message on the X platform, and attached a screenshot of Elocarry's official Discord channel. Screenshots show that the sale and supply of all Call of Duty plug-in products has been temporarily suspended while an "internal review" of the issue is conducted.
Activision stated that the company has cracked down on the operations of more than 375 plug-in dealers, issued more than 80 legal requests to relevant personnel to cease and desist related activities, and closed more than 30 plug-in suppliers. The company also emphasized that it is ready to take plug-in developers and sellers to court.
This is not the first time Activision has taken legal action against "Call of Duty" cheats. In 2020, legal threats from Activision forced cheat team CxCheats to stop developing and selling cheat tools for Call of Duty. The following year, Activision banned 60,000 "Warzone" accounts at once, bringing the total number of permanently banned accounts to more than 300,000 at the time.
Later in 2021, Activision launched the Ricochet anti-cheat system and warned that repeat violators may be permanently banned from playing all past, current and future works in the series. Since then, Ricochet has also taken some special punitive measures against suspected cheaters, such as making normal players invisible from the cheater's perspective, removing cheaters' weapons, and generating fake player avatars that can only be seen by flagged accounts.
Activision has also proven that its court warnings are not empty words. In 2024, a California judge ordered plug-in seller EngineOwning to pay Activision $14.5 million in damages. In addition, Activision was awarded nearly US$293,000 in legal fees, and EngineOwning was required to hand over its website.
Therefore, Elocarry may need to take the legal documents received this time seriously. Suspending sales may be just the first step, and if Activision decides to pursue legal action, he could be the company's next target in court.
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