PUBG Developer Suing Multiple Companies, Including Apple, Over Copycat Games
PUBG developer Krafton has filed a lawsuit against mobile developer Garena, as well as both Apple and Google, over two mobile games that the developer believes copy its popular online shooter.
As detailed in a lawsuit filed by the company (and spotted by The Verge), Krafton has accused Apple and Google of distributing a "blatantly infringing mobile version of Battlegrounds" developed by Garena on their mobile app stores.
Krafton is currently seeking damages from Garena (and the other companies involved) over what it describes as "rampant, willful copyright infringement" surrounding the release of two Garena-developed games, Free Fire and Free Fire Max.
Garena describes Free Fire as "the ultimate survival shooter game available on mobile", pitting 50 players against one another (or in squads of 4) in 10 minute rounds set on island locations, which involve parachuting down, staying within a safe zone and becoming the last surviving players.
Krafton argues in its lawsuit that both Free Fire and Free Fire Max "extensively copy numerous aspects of Battlegrounds", including the game's "copyrighted unique game opening 'air drop' feature" as well as a "combination and selection of weapons, armor, and unique objects, locations, and the overall choice of color schemes, materials, and textures" apparent in the game.
While both Free Fire and Free Fire Max are available for free on Google Play and the Apple App store, they do include a number of additional in-app purchases. Krafton claims that Garena has made "hundreds of millions of dollars" from sales made across the two games and that by hosting them Apple and Google have “similarly earned a substantial amount of revenue from their distribution of Free Fire.”
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