Epic publicly humiliates 2 more Fortnite cheaters by forcing them to say sorry and promise to never, ever do it again

Two more Fortnite ne'er-do-wells have been socked in the chops with the clenched fist of public humiliation, which is to say that they have been forced to make public apologies for being jerks.

"We took legal action against two people who cheated and broke our rules," Epic said in a statement. "One sold and used cheats and the other carried out cyber attacks on content creators who were livestreaming gameplay (aka: DDoS attacks). Both have been ordered to stop these activities and are banned from playing Fortnite. If you break the rules, there are consequences."

The first apology came from the cheat seller, who goes by the name Mirrored. "I would like to apologize to the Fortnite community for both cheating in Fortnite tournaments and selling and distributing cheats and hardware that enabled others to cheat," they wrote in a message posted to YouTube.

"I violated Epic's rules and they have taken legal action against me. I am banned from playing Fortnite forever and I'll face legal action if I sell or distribute cheats again."

I'm sorry number two is essentially the same thing, although it at least has the courtesy to start off as a proper YouTube video: "Hi everyone, it's Zebsi here. I recently carried out Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks in Fortnite under the username TTV Humpty.LLC. The DDoS attacks impacted Fortnite matches of streamers, as well as other users involved in those matches. I am sorry for the DDoS attacks and the harm and damage they caused to the streamers, other players, and Epic Games (the operators of Fortnite). My accounts have been banned from Fortnite. I regret my actions and will not be involved in any more DDoS attacks."

It's a shame that neither apology goes all-in with brooding music and a dramatic reading, but I suppose that neither Mirrored nor Zebsi find all of this too amusing. It's a very public L, after all. I also wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that Epic mandates a certain sort of austere styling in these legally mandated apologies.

As humiliating as getting your ass tuned by Tim Sweeney in front of the entire world must be, the punishment could be a whole lot worse. Most lawsuits of this sort end with the defendant owing huge piles of money to a faceless corporation that doesn't need it but wants to make a point.

Epic didn't specify whether it pursued a financial penalty against this pair, and it may have—when it forced Fortnite cheater RepulseGod to publicly prostrate himself in February, for instance, it also required that he cough up his ill-gotten winnings, which were donated to charity. The fact that Mirrored, at least, seemingly made money on his bad behavior makes me think Epic would at least give 'em a little bit of an extra squeeze as a reminder not to do it again.

But any potential financial penalty comes off as decidedly secondary to the real punishment—being brutally, amusingly dragged—and I feel like that's a smart move on Epic's part. Ruining someone's life because they were an idiot in a videogame isn't a great look, especially for a multi-billion-dollar company that makes one of those most popular videogames on the planet. Forcing them to eat a little shit and then sending them on their way with a stern warning about the real unpleasantness that awaits if they come back, though? That's almost kind of stylish.