FBI And NCSoft Shutdown Pirates

The FBI has shutdown an illegal Lineage II server operation, ending over 50,000 active user accounts.

L2Extreme.com, now taken over by the FBI, was a site where users could access the popular Lineage II MMORPG without paying NCSoft. According to the report, over 50,000 accounts were active on the service, costing NCSoft "millions of dollars per year" according to the publisher. A year long investigation by the FBI has culminated with multiple raids and seizures from Virginia to California.

Although thousands of end-users were involved, NCSoft does not intend to pursue the players. "We just want people to know that when these things happen, we're very serious about it, and we're going to take whatever methods and means we need to take care of it," said David Swafford, PR director for North America. According to Swafford, the investigation is ongoing and there is more to come.