If you think mobile game Heroes of Warfare looks like Overwatch, you’re not alone. So does Blizzard China and NetEase, Overwatch‘s Chinese operator, which is why they’re taking it to court.
[Image: Hachima | My Game News Flash]
If you’ve never seen Heroes of Warfare, check out these screens from Hachima and My Game News Flash:
[Image: Hachima | My Game News Flash]
[Image: Hachima | My Game News Flash]
[Image: Hachima | My Game News Flash]
[Image: Hachima | My Game News Flash]
[Image: Hachima | My Game News Flash]
[Image: Hachima | My Game News Flash]
[Image: Hachima | My Game News Flash]
[Image: Hachima | My Game News Flash]
Here is gameplay:
This seems to be the same ballsy Overwatch clone Kotaku previously introduced.
According to PC Watch, Blizzard China and NetEase are suing the game’s maker, demanding that an apology and restitution. They are also asking that Apple remove it from the App Store.
Both Blizzard China and NetEase say the game violates intellectual property and violates China’s unfair competition law.
Comments
14 responses to “In China, Blizzard Is Suing Over Alleged Overwatch Rip Off”
At least the player models are somewhat original, even if you can see the OW influence.
The maps and everything else though, wow.
China? China, par~course, water=wet.
Probably not gonna turn out well for them. Chinese courts are heavily biased in their favour.
For who? Blizzard or the cloners?
Because Blizzard do have an actual Chinese partner in this, who aren’t exactly small fish. They’re the sort of company the country relies on to attract investment from large Western companies. Shoddy deals and corruption is all over the place in China yes and their court dealings aren’t exactly the most transparent, but in a case like this dealing with significant business and political interests at stake, Blizzard have a pretty damn good chance.
Just looking like another game isn’t a copyright violation though, even in America. One has to have actually ripped parts of the code or copied/modified the graphics. Reverse engineering a game isn’t enough, just look at all the PDF/Word doc converters around. In fact, it’s successful mobile game developer Zynga’s entire business model.
I have no clue whether Chinese courts have a history of favouring Chinese companies, but even if so it’s not like other countries are immune to the same thing. Just look at the success Apple has had suing Samsung in American courts even though the exact same cases have been lost in almost every other jurisdiction around the world, including Europe.
Which won’t matter as much since Bliz’s Chinese distributor is suing as well.
Just looking like another game is sufficient for copyright infringement too. Things like maps being the same or very similar. Using similar icons and layouts (if not the norm in similar works of art).
Not really analogous to the Samsung and Apple thing.
There are definitely some audio clips in there that have been lifted from Overwatch. I can hear Rhienhardts voice and the healing sound
Blizzard has a huge buisness presence in China. The recent Warcraft movie made most of its profit over there. Blizzard has a very noticeable presence and the Chinese government will listen.
Roadhog – “why’s the payload not going to the bullet farm?”
Blizz should release a bunch of skins that use these character models as an FU. I’m low-key craving that lady, card-throwing Zenyatta!
Is Valve joining the proceedings?
Pretty sure I see Iron Man and Immortan Joe there, too.
China? Shoddy rip off of popular brands and IPs? Oh my god lets gasp in collective shock.
They did a better job on character design than Blizzard