Anyone who has played games is likely familiar with the game “Genshin Impact” developed by miHoYo Company. It was the top game on the Apple and Google platforms in 2020. This clearly demonstrates the game’s popularity. However, some unscrupulous individuals have been tempted to develop “hacks” to gain an unfair advantage.
In the end, they “lost their wives and then their men.”
Recently, the Shanghai Xuhui Court has tried a case of this nature. In June 2021, the Shanghai Xuhui Police successfully cracked down on a case involving the production and sale of “hacks” for the game “Genshin Impact.” Three suspects were apprehended, and the total涉案amount was approximately 2 million RMB. After the trial, the three defendants were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from four years to one and a half years.
The court’s judgment document shows that from October 2020 to May 2021, the defendant Zhou, in conjunction with defendant Sun Si, obtained game-related data from defendant Yao Bing through discussion, and provided it to Zhou for the development and creation of the “KQ” hack program.
According to judicial appraisal, from October 2020 to May 2021, the defendant sold a total of 40,000 plus “hacks” cards, totaling approximately 2 million RMB.
The illegal “KQ hack” severely disrupted the game’s fairness and interfered with the gaming experience of the general public. It also caused significant economic losses to the game itself and had a negative impact.
After receiving a report from miHoYo Company, the Xuhui Police immediately launched an investigation and successfully identified the suspects and collected substantial evidence, leading to their arrest.
In August 2021, the Shanghai Xuhui District People’s Procuratorate prosecuted the suspects for the crime of providing illegal control of computer information systems programs, and the case was accepted and publicly heard at the Shanghai Xuhui District People’s Court.
The procuratorial authorities determined that the defendants, in pursuit of illegal gains, jointly created and sold programs that could intrude and control computer systems, which constitutes a crime as per Article 285 of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China, and should be held criminally responsible for their joint criminal activities.
After the trial, the court found that the procuratorial authorities’ charges were correct, and all three defendants admitted guilt and had made restitution. Ultimately, the court sentenced the main defendant Zhou to four years in prison and a fine of 50,000 RMB; the main defendant Sun Si to three years and ten months in prison and a fine of 50,000 RMB; and the secondary defendant Yao Bing to one year and six months in prison and a fine of 10,000 RMB.
In recent years, with the rapid development of China’s online gaming industry, the black market of “hacks” and “私服” (pirated games) has also emerged.
In June 2020, the National Copyright Administration, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the National Internet Information Office launched the “Operation Sword 2020” campaign. The regulatory authorities have continuously cracked down on the “hacks” and “私服” black market.
Multiple similar cases have been cracked since then.
In August 2020, the Gaoyou Police cracked down on a major game hack case, dismantling four sales groups of game hacks and arresting 22 suspects.
In March 2021, the Suzhou Kunshan Police cracked down on the world’s largest game hack case, with suspects operating in multiple countries, both domestically and internationally.
In December 2021, the Tushan Police Bureau of the Xuzhou Public Security Bureau of Jiangsu Province cracked down on an infringement of online game copyright case, arresting four suspects and dismantling a black game industry profit chain involving the establishment of game “私服.”
These unscrupulous individuals often face severe criminal penalties. According to multiple judgments on the China Judgments Online website, the manufacture and sale of hacks and “私服”涉嫌构成侵入非法控制计算机控制程序罪、侵犯著作权罪等犯罪行为。
The defendants were ultimately