Fortnite cheat YouTuber sued by Epic Games

A YouTube gamer who posted videos of himself cheating in Fortnite is being sued by its developer Epic Games.

Brandon Lucas has attracted 1.7 million subscribers to his Golden Modz channel, where he plays modified or hacked versions of Fortnite and other games.

He also runs a website where he sells gimmicks, such as automatic aiming, for more than $ 200 (£150).

"The defendants ... are cheaters. No one likes a cheater," Epic Games said in its legal filing.

"Defendant Lucas not only cheats, but also promotes, advertises and sells software that allows those who use it to cheat," the document states

One of the cheats available on the Mr Lucas website is aimbot, which allows players to aim and kill enemies automatically without having to aim their weapon.

It is only available for the PC version of the game, but offers a significant competitive advantage for any player using the cheat.

In Mr. Lucas' latest YouTube video, "default troll skins," players who may be new and have not yet changed their character's appearance.

Several other videos in which he used the aimbot trick have been removed from YouTube following a copyright complaint from Epic Games.

Another YouTube player, Colton Conter, is also mentioned in the legal filing.

In the documents, Epic Games said the cheaters were "creating unauthorized derivative works of Fortnite by illegally modifying the game's code."

The company told the BBC it did not comment on active legal cases.

But he said in a statement: "When cheaters use aimbots or other cheat technologies to gain an unfair advantage, they ruin games for people who play enough. We take cheating seriously and will pursue all available options to ensure that our games are fun, fair and competitive for players.

Epic Games is based in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The case was filed in the Eastern District of North Carolina.

In October, Epic Games took over anti-cheating software company Kamu as part of its efforts to tackle unauthorized modifications to its games.

In a video called Golden Modz sued by Fortnite, Lucas said he wasn't sure why Epic Games had taken action.

"I'm confused because there are about a thousand other content creators on YouTube making Fortnite content," he said in the video, adding that others used hacks "without repercussions."

New tournaments

Fortnite Battle Royale sees 100 players land on an island to scavenge for weapons and build defenses. The person who survives the longest wins.

More than 75 million people worldwide play it regularly and it is the most watched game on the Twitch streaming site.

On Monday, Epic Games announced that it was adding new tournaments to the game, which would allow players to compete to win a shiny badge.

Players will be matched with players of a similar skill level. However, all players, whether on PC, console or smartphone, will play against each other. Some critics have suggested that this will give PC players a competitive advantage.