App stores are currently overrun with battle royale games that I will generously say are heavily inspired by PUBG and Fortnite. It’s a wild west out there, but amidst all the copy-catting, two games plucked from the masses are being taken to court by PUBG Corp., the company running PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
As TorrentFreak report, PUBG Corp is suing Chinese gaming giant NetEase, which has published not one but two games — Rules of Survival and Knives Out — that PUBG feels are cutting things a little too close to their own efforts.
In particular, PUBG Corp is citing NetEase’s use of the term “Chicken Dinner” in marketing, and similarities in the “buildings, landscapes, vehicles, weapons, clothing, the pre-play area, and the shrinking gameplay area.”
Also being cited in the case is the fact that there are YouTube videos of people playing these games labelling (or mistakingly) labelling them as “PUBG“, potentially misleading viewers.
PUBG Corp wants both games removed from app stores, and are also seeking damages. If you want, you can read the full suit at TorrentFreak.
Comments
7 responses to “Some PUBG Clones Are Actually Being Sued”
I find the irony in this. Toei Company, Battle Royal Production Committee and Kinji Fukasaku should go after them instead.
So they own the Chicken Dinner and the saying now?
Red Rooster better watch out
But that’s Rooster
Bluehole are still a bastard company that behaves badly, no surprise.
I’m no lawyer but PUBG Corp. have an uphill battle ahead of them. From what I’ve heard from other people, a lot of the things they are claiming as infringement can’t actually be copyrighted. The things that can be copyrighted though such as assets and possibly map layouts aren’t being infringed upon as far as I’ve seen. It’ll be interesting to see how this “pans” out.
Exactly, there’s a big difference between inspired by and a clone
Sounds like a lot of posturing, much like they tried with Fortnite in the beginning.
I honestly hope they fail because it sets a terrifying precedent when it comes to new games. Can’t have anymore RTS because they’re all clones of Warcraft or C&C can’t have anymore aRPG because they’re all clones of Diablo, can’t have anymore FPS because they’re all clones of Wolfenstein/Doom/Quake…
I’d also say that if PUBG goes after games with a similar battle royale model then they better not expand their own game to include capture the flag or king of the hill or any other gameplay models that have been used before or they in turn should be sued.
That said, Netease were sued for cloning Hearthstone so maybe there is some merit to the action. If they’re explicitly ripping off the game rather than making a genuine original game that features that gameplay mode (ie: Fortnite) then go after them.