Bethesda Softworks is suing Warner Bros. and developer Behaviour Interactive over the new Westworld mobile game. The lawsuit alleges that the title, which just debuted on iOS and Android yesterday, is apparently a “blatant rip-off” of Bethesda’s mobile game Fallout Shelter.
Bethesda Softworks is suing Warner Bros. and developer Behaviour Interactive over the new Westworld mobile game. The lawsuit alleges that the title, which just debuted on iOS and Android yesterday, is apparently a “blatant rip-off” of Bethesda’s mobile game Fallout Shelter.
Bethesda’s suit states that the game cribs the art style, animations, features, and other gameplay elements, as well as “highly similar” game design from Fallout Shelter, which originally debuted across mobile devices in 2015. It goes beyond that, as well, as Bethesda states that developer Behaviour ended up utilizing the very same “copyrighted computer code” that was created and intended to be used in Fallout Shelter in the Westworld game, right down to a bug that appeared in earlier builds of Fallout Shelter. Â
The company also states that Behaviour Interactive breached its contract with Bethesda by using its access to intellectual property, such as the code used in Westworld to release it in an expedient manner.
As such, Bethesda is seeking both a trial by jury and damages for copyright infringement, breach of contract, and misappropriating trade secrets in the development of the Westworld mobile game.Â
A quick look at the two games does reveal various similarities, so it’s understandable how Bethesda could be upset with the new game’s release, but we’ll have to wait for official judgments to see how things end up.
You can read a full copy of the suit, via Polygon, here. The allegations, particularly the evidence that apparently surrounds the bug previously seen in Fallout Shelter, are quite damning, but as Behaviour Interactive hasn’t responded to the suit just yet, we’ll be waiting to see how this story unfolds.
Published: Jun 22, 2018 09:32 pm