It’s a common trend for big tech companies to sue others for copyright infringement. For examples, Apple vs Samsung for smartphone designs or Gamevice suing Nintendo for the Switch’s design. Every company wants to own the technology and make a lot of money. Recently, for the gaming industry, the biggest copyright battle was PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) versus Fortnite which ended today with a draw.
PUBG Corp. sued Epic for copying their Battle Royal- style gameplay. While the concept of Battle Royal isn’t new in media, PUBG and Fortnite have greatly popularized the game mode. The lawsuit started in January in Korea.
Why did PUBG Corp drop the Lawsuit?
While PUBG Corp. hasn’t stated why they dropped the lawsuit, there are speculations it was dropped due to Tencent. Both are part-owned by social media and gaming giant. It would a conflict of interest for Tencent to have the games they invested in sue each other. Epic created the Unreal Engine which is used to make PUBG so that may have also caused complications in the lawsuit.
Regardless, it’s ridiculous for PUBG Corp to sue Epic for mimicking the battle royal gameplay style. The game plays differently but just has similar genres. If PUBG had won the lawsuit, imagine the rest of the gaming companies to sue one another that used similar gameplay.
Bloomberg – PUBG Corp drops lawsuit
CNBC – Nintendo sued over Switch Design
The Gaming News Corner 