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PUBG and Epic Games, Makers of Two of the World's Most Popular Video Games, Set To Battle in Court (bloomberg.com)
PUBG, an affiliate of South Korean studio Bluehole, is suing the Korean unit of North Carolina-based Epic Games, arguing that its smash hit Fortnite copies many of the characteristics of its own PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. The suit, alleging copyright infringement, was filed in South Korea. From a report: PUBG introduced its game last year and it became a huge hit as players embraced the Hunger Games-style concept in which 100 players race to kill each other until there's a sole survivor. But the game's features have been embraced by rivals, prompting earlier legal action. Fortnite has a similar concept of 100 people competing with each other, but differs by letting players build fortifications similar to Minecraft and using more cartoon-like graphics aimed at younger players "This is a measure to protect our copyrights," PUBG said, declining to provide further details. Epic Games didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. The two companies have a complicated relationship. Epic Games provides PUBG with its Unreal Engine technology, which was used to create PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. The software is instrumental in building games and is the industry-standard for professional games developers. Both companies are also partly owned by Tencent Holdings, China's internet giant.
I think you meant to say 'Battle Royale'..
Will the court shrink as time goes on? With the last lawyer standing getting a bonus?
I'd be much more worried about Overwatch vs Team Fortress 2 in that case.
Pretty much the same game, different graphics.
Unless they think they can patent a genre this'll end badly,
They don’t think they can patent a genre. That’s why this is about copyright infringement. Not that that makes there case any less silly.
PUBG did certainly not come up with that game concept, the DayZ mod did it in ARMA 2 back in 2013.
The guy who made the DayZ mod is the creator of PUGB. So, yes, he did come up wih the game concept used in DayZ.
This is so abysmally stupid I can hardly believe it. PUBG is basically a better asset flip. The only thing that it has going is a neat new game mechanic and a reason to multiplay on a larger map. Other than that there is zilch innovation in the game. PUBG is going to lose big time. Indie Game critic Jim Sterling did a perfect analysis of this situation.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
the heavy focus on exploring for gear in a collapsing play area is fairly recent.
4-player Super Bomberman and Bomberman 64, published by Hudson Soft, were around in the 1990s. Both had last man standing, exploring for gear (bomb and flame powerups), and a collapsing play area once less than a minute remained in a 2-minute match. But I'll grant that in the timescale of the law in question, which reaches back to 1923, video games themselves are "fairly recent."
PUBG are the same idiots that thought they could copyright the concept of using a frying pan as a weapon, or using default graphics assets.
So, yeah, they are probably that stupid.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
The legal systems around the world has failed The People. We as civilized citizens must hold the companies accountable and more importantly the legal staff. The top 50 lawyers from each company shall be placed in an arena with a variety of weapons. If there are not 50 lawyers, then the top executives starting at the CEO shall fill out to meet the 50. The last company representative breathing shall have their companies position upheld.
-- Slashdot, making the Left look conservative since 1997.
I think it was in April that PUBG sued NetEase for two mobile games for copyright infringement. This copyright lawyer, Leonard French goes over that suit and discusses elements of it. While French talks about general concepts of copyright infringement like "substantially similar" requirements he also talks about specific things like PUBG's claim that NetEase "copied" guns which were real world guns is problematic as you'd expect a Tommy gun to look like all other Tommy guns.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
isn't this whole game basicly just a last man standing game? most of the old FPS's had a game mode called last man standing that does the same thing. you get one life and the last person thats still alive is the winner. PUGB didn't even come up with the winner winner chiken dinner as thats been around for ever.