Category: Video Games

A fake ransomware gang has said it lied when it claimed to have hacked Fortnite maker Epic Games.

A group calling itself Mogilevich had claimed to have accessed Epic Games data and threatened to release its data unless it was paid. But Epic itself denied it had been hacked, and now Mogilevich has admitted the scam.

Cyber Daily quoted a Mogilevich spokesperson who said the group tried to trick hackers into buying hacking tools. “In reality, we are not a ransomware-as-a-service, but professional fraudsters,” the spokesperson said. “None of the databases listed in our blog were as true as you might have discovered recently. We took advantage of big names to gain visibility as quickly as possible, but not to fame and receive approval, but to build meticulously our new trafficking of victims to scam.”

“Now the real question is, why confess all this when we could just run away?” the spokesperson continued. “This was done to illustrate the process of our scam. We don’t think of ourselves as hackers but rather as criminal geniuses, if you can call us that.”

As Cyber Daily points out, even this confession may be a lie. But what is clear is Mogilevich is not behind a hack of Epic Games or any other organization. Indeed, Epic Games itself had issued a statement insisting there was “zero evidence” Mogilevich’s claims were legitimate.

“Mogilievich has not contacted Epic or provided any proof of the veracity of these allegations,” Epic said in a statement issued to Eurogamer. “When we saw these allegations, which were a screenshot of a darkweb webpage in a tweet from a third party, we began investigating within minutes and reached out to Mogilevich for proof. Mogilevich has not responded. The closest thing we have seen to a response is this tweet, where they allegedly ask for $15k and ‘proof of funds’ to hand over the purported data.”

While this case is a scam, video game companies are on high alert after a series of hacks in recent years that have resulted in the release of stolen data.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

The Star Wars strategy game in development at Bit Reactor and produced by Apex Legends and Star Wars Jedi developer Respawn has survived after the recent mass layoffs at EA.

EA announced plans in February 2024 to lay off around 670 workers, cancel or close games, and move away from future licensed intellectual property.

The publisher currently has several confirmed Star Wars and Marvel games in development, including a third Jedi game, Black Panther, and Iron Man. But EA canceled Respawn’s Star Wars first person shooter, which was announced last year but had not yet been fully revealed.

Some had expressed concern about the fate of the Star Wars strategy game, but a tweet by developer Bit Reactor confirmed it survived the cull.

“Last week was difficult for the industry, and more so because of our strong relationships within the other teams at Respawn,” Bit Reactor said. “But for those asking, we are still hard at work, and our game was unaffected by last week’s news.”

In a subsequent tweet responding to a question asking when the Star Wars strategy game would be unveiled, Bit Reactor said: “As soon as it’s ready…”

EA announced the Star Wars strategy game in January 2022 alongside two others all overseen in one form or another by Respawn. We now know the FPS has fallen by the wayside, leaving Star Wars Jedi 3 and the strategy game in development. Neither have release windows. Bit Reactor was formed by Firaxis Games veterans best-known for their work on the XCOM franchise.

Announcing the layoffs, EA boss Andrew Wilson said the company would now double down on owned IP, sports, and “massive online communities.” This marks yet another major blow to the games industry amid ongoing mass layoffs at studios of all sizes. The cuts impacted roughly 10,000 developers in 2023, and are approaching 8,000 in just the first two months of 2024.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.