About a month ago PUBG Corp - the company behind the incredibly successful "Battle Royale" title PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds - issued a copyright violation lawsuit against Epic Games, makers of Fortnite.
In case you've been living under a rock for the past year, Fortnite is currently one of the biggest games in the world, though its critics point out that PUBG arrived at the Battle Royale concept first, and that Epic simply tacked a similar mode onto Fortnite's flagging "Save the World" campaign.
PUBG Corp has been eyeing up legal action since the start of the year, and had planned to take Epic Games to court in South Korea following claims that Fortnite had ripped off PUBG. Strangely, PUBG Corp has now dropped all legal action and has even sent a letter to Epic Games confirming that no challenge will be made in court.
It's not known what triggered this turnaround, or if an agreement was reached behind the scenes. It could well be that PUBG Corp realised that it didn't really have much of a claim in the first place, as the Battle Royale concept existed long before PUBG appeared. Whatever the reason, it seems that any legal threat hanging over Epic Games is now gone, and it can go back to enjoying the fact that it has one of the most bankable properties in the world of gaming right now.
[source pushsquare.com]
Comments 54
Hmm I smell a big packet of money found on the floor of PUBG's office, not "dropped" by an Epic Games Employee
@NewAdvent Preach it Bullet King!
Ugh....
Same case that i heard between Arena of Valor and Mobile Legend.
I dunno what's going on, but i Never have any interest about those games.
So, i don't care whatever happened to them...
You can't copyright game mechanics, so I don't know what case they thought they had.
@Anti-Matter Thanks for sharing such a thrilling story
@NewAdvent Tell that to the ISPs, they burned that memo.
I wish they have been successful and got fortnite shutdown.
Fortnite is one of the worst games ever “invented” and is THE most overrated game ever made. A shooter for children with poor mechanics and a pointless goal. 0/10 is too high a score for this polished turd.
As much as I hate Fortnite............. PUBG had such an “entitlement” feeling around them and the fans were just COD guys... I’m so glad they’re backing down and now disappearing into insignificance.
This was never going to work out. There's no valid legal argument for being salty because someone offered a competing product that stole your thunder by being more accessible and well-optimized.
@Ralizah
My English is not very good, so basically the article said: "PUBG copycat Fortnite ideas." ?
@Tsurii
Ow, i see...
@Tsurii PUBG itself is a very plain and poorly optimized game, to my understanding. Also, it's not F2P. I don't understand how none of the people involved with it couldn't see this coming. The only thing that distinguished PUBG was the basic gameplay formula, and that sort of thing is very easily copied. You can't just establish a new genre and then sue anyone else who tries to compete with you.
I thought they were suing Epic for not providing the support promised with the Unreal Engine... Like they were purposefully weakening the PUBG platform by not giving the technical support promised. I didn't think it had anything to do with copying. Maybe I missed something?
But.....but.....FRYING PANS!?!
Ill be filing a lawsuit if we dont get a carear tab soon lol
Kuddo’s for the ‘Victory legale’ subheader. 😂
@Tsurii I can think of something that did Battle Royale first.
Any given last man standing event in history.
what about the other companies they’re suing? did they just realize they don’t have enough money to be successful suing Epic but do have enough to strangle the smaller players? Or did they just receive the cease and desist letter from Epic revoking their UE license?
It would be good to have both on the switch. I've never played pubg but it looks good.
PUBG just needs to spice things up, they can make a come back they just aren't inventive enough.
They realized they would have lost. Epic is a huge company trying to sue them isn't very smart. Especially over a game concept. I'm not even sure you could copyright something like that.
@Ralizah " There's no valid legal argument for being salty because someone offered a competing product that stole your thunder by being more accessible and well-optimized."
Microsoft v. Everyone 1990-2005
Amazon (One Click case) 1998
Comcast v. Everyone 1988-Present
Any Railroad v. Everyone 1882-1961
Sure there is
There was an interesting video on this from Game Theory, and basically while this wouldn't have much of a leg to stand on in American court, this was going to be South Korean Court, and there actually was a much better chance they could win due to the way the laws there work. My guess is there is some unknown settlement out of court between the 2 companies that will never actually be determined.
@NEStalgia Ugh, and don't forget Pacific Bell. That turned out great...
@KingSandyRavage "Fortnite is one of the worst games ever “invented” and is THE most overrated game ever made."
Hrm, you must be new to the whole "video game thingamajig". I'll feed this malnourished troll, everyone.
Maybe they can take their time to improve their game so they could probably be the top dog of the Battle royale genre again. And not have a patent pending on frying pans. (No I am not kidding.)
@Bunkerneath I think it was more like a head of a horse they found. I actually think being the first to sneak such a head into the oppositions house/office is considered as winning a legal dispute in South Korea.
@HobbitGamer Theres nothing like some good old opinion / fact conflation, an ageless staple of video gaming.
That’s the best subtitle for an article I’ve seen in a while!
@Bunkerneath I don't get that at all.
@Bunkerneath I don't think so, haha. PUBG never had a case. It would be like if I made a 3D platformer and then threatened to sue Nintendo when the next Mario game came out. I hardly think they would be sending me any money to keep quiet xD
judge must have seen this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE4ODudenm0
It absolutely was settled behind the scenes otherwise they would NEVER send a letter to Fortnite saying legal actions won't proceed.
@chardir if you could, Nintendo would be onto their lawyers very quickly
PUBG: Fortnite stole our ideas. We're suing you, Epic!
Epic: Okay. No more Unreal Engine 4 updates for you.
PUBG: Okay. We're not suing you!
@Bunkerneath Hardly!! This is about money though but it was money they would lose in the lawsuit. The cost of keeping a case like that going & the risk of losing & having to pay all legal costs for both parties is what prompted this. Their case was super weak at best!
The developer probably finally realised you can't copyright/patent game mechanics and that the lawsuit was ultimately pointless and a waste of [lots of] money.
I feel like this was a case of insidious laywers--who imo clearly knew better all along--taking advantage of an ignorant developer who'd come into a lot of money due to the success of their game, and the insidious lawyers wanted some of that moolah.
Did they realise how ridiculous they were to think that they've made the first Battle Royale game?
It gets even more ridiculous since you cannot claim a game/mode idea for yourself. Making similar games with your own code is allowed, as long as you don't rip off assets, trademarks, and copyrights which Epic's Fortnite clearly did not.
@Anti-Matter That is not a good translation.
Basically, "PUBG drops lawsuit" because claim lacked merit would be a better description.
Well since Bluehole (PubG Devs) didn't have a leg to stand on in the first place and than copied Fortnite's Battle Pass. Of course they were going to drop the lawsuit.
Maybe they consulted a better lawyer that could explain why it wouldn't have been worth it...because boy were the armchair analysts quick to point out the glaring flaws in their suits...
@KingSandyRavage Someone got killed in 99th place, lol.
@KingSandyRavage That doesn't mean it deserves to be shut down over copyright. It's a pretty hugely different game, even if you don't like it.
Well, good thing to know PUBG's developer is not salty. Fortnite is the new Call of Duty. Very overrated.
They should have kept going! Korea just won 2:0 in the World Cup over Germany. I'm sure they didn't anticipate THAT win, either
My money is on someone just realizing that the battle royale concept isn't remotely original and predates both games by decades.
Sounds like the work of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts...
@Ralizah can't you just imagine if you could do that, though? I wonder how much money Id Software would have right now if they could sue everyone that made an FPS game after Id created the FPS genre.
Really sucks that they're getting away with this
@FTPinkRabbit I just wanted it shut down because it’s crap and I’m sick of hearing about it.
It's an arrogant claim to call this genre yours to the point of suing. The Battle Royale style is very much on the nose about its inspiration, having the same title as the cult movie that features 'players' being dropped on an Island with only the last man standing getting out alive, featuring periodically disabling of regions to drive the players closer together and structures where useful equipment may be found. With regards to other games, PUBG was no immaculate conception either, with games such as DayZ already laying the foundations.
@EeryPetrol The allegation was that they stole the actual code from the game.
They most likely got told by a lawyer that their claim was completely unwinnable and would not only cost a lot of money for zero return, but that Epic would likely counter-sue and order the immediate shut down of all copies of PUBG, resulting in PUBG corps closure.
@ALinkttPresent oh wow. I missed that.
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