The publisher of "Grand Theft Auto V" and its parent company were granted the right to raid the homes of five people who allegedly made cheat software to manipulate the video game's online mode.
A court order issued by the Federal Court of Australia, dated September 21, gave Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive's lawyers the right to search the homes of the developers and seize any evidence related to the cheat.
The people were identified in the court order as Christopher Anderson, Cyrus Lesser, sfinktah, Koroush Anderson and Koroush Jeddian.
The cheat software, known as "Infamous," effectively grants players the ability to become invincible and have access to unlimited in-game funds and the best vehicles and weapons in the game.
The search was carried out last month, according to tech publication TorrentFreak, which originally reported the news and posted the court order online. The court also froze the assets of the developers and prohibited them from further cheating.
"You must not remove from Australia or in any way dispose of, deal with or diminish the value of any of your assets in Australia (Australian assets) up to the unencumbered value of 286,609.80 Australian dollars," the court order stated.
Rockstar Games owner Take-Two Interactive was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
It's one of the most stringent legal actions surrounding video game cheating. Cheating is a significant issue in the gaming industry, due to copyright concerns around the modification of games. Fornite developer Epic Games for instance recently sued two YouTube video makers who allegedly promoted cheating.
Modding is a popular means — particularly among PC gamers — to alter a game's look or functionality by installing modifications. But for competitive online gaming it can wildly unbalance the playing field, enabling some players to have an unfair advantage over others.