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Epic sells the most obvious rip-off of PUBG. Fortnite's battle royale mode was a direct copy and directly inspired by PUBG making a wildly popular game in Epic'

Epic sells the most obvious rip-off of PUBG. Fortnite's battle royale mode was a direct copy and directly inspired by PUBG making a wildly popular game in Epic's engine. Epic then used their position in the market ($$$$$$$) to effectively buy out PUBG's playerbase. It's not even controversial that they did this. But I guess it's all just history now. I do wonder why they're going after Apple and Google's app stores when a case against Epic and it's app store behavior is far more clear.

bydlocoder 5y ago
It's common practice in game industry, each successful breakthrough game spawns clones of various quality. Doom spawned tons of first-person shooters, WarCraft spawned tons of real-time strategies etc.
- drzaiusapelord 5y ago
  Yep and if the IP-warriors had their way there would be no Halo, no Everquest/Wow, etc. Its just incredible how these people back the most corrupt corporation's laziest IP theft claims and jump to defend them and mock everyone else as a "rip off." Heck, even your example of Warfcraft wouldn't have happened because by the pro-IP crowd's standards, it would have been a "rip-off" of Dune II. I remember when the tech community fought overly broad IP claims and patents, now its just pro-IP shills left and right. Its incredible how far we've fallen.
  - bydlocoder 5y ago
    Heh, one of the most successful modern games wouldn't exist if game mechanics could be patented or copyrighted. Dune 2 -> WarCraft -> WarCraft 3 -> DOTA -> League of Legends. Come to think of it, the only time Blizzard invented the whole genre was with Diablo. All their other (incredibly successful) games were refinements of prior work by other game developers.
    - Jon_Lowtek 5y ago
      The people involved with Diablo are surprisingly honest about their initial pitch being take Moria, Nethack, and Rogue, and bring them into the 1990s with fantastic graphics and sound. ^^ Ask them again and they talk about Telengard and Legend of Zelda, ask again and they call out MUD and D&D. Their strategy resolved around naming many inspirations, thereby removing the idea that they copied a specific one. I truly wish our culture would not favor deniability due to fear of litigation over honesty and giving respect and credit.
djur 5y ago
They did sue Epic over Fortnite Battle Royale, but they ended up dropping the suit. Game mechanics are not subject to copyright in the US, and Fortnite probably doesn't borrow anything copyrightable from PUBG. This lawsuit does include some things that Epic took from PUBG (like a fixed island map that you airdrop into), but its claims that those particular things are copyrightable creative expressions are questionable. Hell, they include "a grid map with a two-letter coordinate system", "health packs taking a while to apply", "needing to scavenge equipment", "realistic weapons", and "damage based on hit location" in the lawsuit. It also makes some claims that just obviously aren't true ("unlike other shooter games, Battlegrounds does not display designators above opposing game characters"). But it also includes some aspects which are more obviously unique to PUBG, like the frying pan being usable as invulnerable butt armor. Free Fire looks much, much closer to PUBG than Fortnite BR. The screenshots in the complaint are pretty convincing. As someone who hasn't played PUBG for a few years, you could easily trick me into thinking this was a new version with updated textures. It even has a frying pan that can be used as a weapon or as invulnerable butt armor, and a "chicken dinner" victory screen!
- superkuh 5y ago
  I played Fortnite when it was an entirely different game. I even paid $40 for it. It was nothing at all like PUBG. Then PUBG became popular. Suddenly Fortnite, the game I bought, was an entire different game... and released for free. Yeah, it might not be illegal, but it sure was a shady, asshole move by a monopolizing megacorp abusing their market position and exploiting their engine customers.

bydlocoder 5y ago

It's common practice in game industry, each successful breakthrough game spawns clones of various quality. Doom spawned tons of first-person shooters, WarCraft spawned tons of real-time strategies etc.

drzaiusapelord 5y ago
Yep and if the IP-warriors had their way there would be no Halo, no Everquest/Wow, etc. Its just incredible how these people back the most corrupt corporation's laziest IP theft claims and jump to defend them and mock everyone else as a "rip off." Heck, even your example of Warfcraft wouldn't have happened because by the pro-IP crowd's standards, it would have been a "rip-off" of Dune II. I remember when the tech community fought overly broad IP claims and patents, now its just pro-IP shills left and right. Its incredible how far we've fallen.
- bydlocoder 5y ago
  Heh, one of the most successful modern games wouldn't exist if game mechanics could be patented or copyrighted. Dune 2 -> WarCraft -> WarCraft 3 -> DOTA -> League of Legends. Come to think of it, the only time Blizzard invented the whole genre was with Diablo. All their other (incredibly successful) games were refinements of prior work by other game developers.
  - Jon_Lowtek 5y ago
    The people involved with Diablo are surprisingly honest about their initial pitch being take Moria, Nethack, and Rogue, and bring them into the 1990s with fantastic graphics and sound. ^^ Ask them again and they talk about Telengard and Legend of Zelda, ask again and they call out MUD and D&D. Their strategy resolved around naming many inspirations, thereby removing the idea that they copied a specific one. I truly wish our culture would not favor deniability due to fear of litigation over honesty and giving respect and credit.

djur 5y ago

They did sue Epic over Fortnite Battle Royale, but they ended up dropping the suit. Game mechanics are not subject to copyright in the US, and Fortnite probably doesn't borrow anything copyrightable from PUBG. This lawsuit does include some things that Epic took from PUBG (like a fixed island map that you airdrop into), but its claims that those particular things are copyrightable creative expressions are questionable. Hell, they include "a grid map with a two-letter coordinate system", "health packs taking a while to apply", "needing to scavenge equipment", "realistic weapons", and "damage based on hit location" in the lawsuit. It also makes some claims that just obviously aren't true ("unlike other shooter games, Battlegrounds does not display designators above opposing game characters"). But it also includes some aspects which are more obviously unique to PUBG, like the frying pan being usable as invulnerable butt armor. Free Fire looks much, much closer to PUBG than Fortnite BR. The screenshots in the complaint are pretty convincing. As someone who hasn't played PUBG for a few years, you could easily trick me into thinking this was a new version with updated textures. It even has a frying pan that can be used as a weapon or as invulnerable butt armor, and a "chicken dinner" victory screen!

superkuh 5y ago
I played Fortnite when it was an entirely different game. I even paid $40 for it. It was nothing at all like PUBG. Then PUBG became popular. Suddenly Fortnite, the game I bought, was an entire different game... and released for free. Yeah, it might not be illegal, but it sure was a shady, asshole move by a monopolizing megacorp abusing their market position and exploiting their engine customers.