PUBG (PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds) is currently suing its competitor Fortnite in South Korea for copyright infringement. The game itself is facing accusations of consisting solely of foreign assets. However, it is defending itself against these claims.
Lawsuit in South Korea is ongoing: Since January, a lawsuit has been filed by PUBG Corp against Epic Games South Korea. The popular game “Fortnite” is set to launch in South Korea, and PUBG believes there are numerous similarities. They have discovered 11 of their own ideas in Fortnite. Thus, they have resorted to filing a lawsuit.
“I die a little every time”
Accusations against PUBG: But PUBG is also burdened by a reputation that seems to offend the proud Koreans. The term “asset flip” is making the rounds: This refers to games that purchase “assets,” i.e., graphical elements, reassemble them, and then release a new game.
Irony is cruel: The irony is that PUBG Corp accuses its competitor Fortnite of consisting of foreign elements while it itself actually consists of foreign elements. Though they did pay for those, of course. For the situation, they are receiving quite a bit of ridicule on reddit. This matter seems to gnaw at PUBG Corp.
PlayerUnknown feels offended: During E3, PUBG creator Brendan Greene stated he dies a little inside every time he reads that PUBG is an “asset flip.” To dispel these rumors, PR chief Ryan Rigney, has now revealed on reddit how the purchased graphic elements were handled.
Economically reasonable to buy assets
For experimentation: The head of communications at PUBG justifies the policy on reddit. If you have a small team and are still experimenting, it is reasonable to buy assets rather than hire 40 new artists right away. Therefore, they have been working with assets from the beginning. While they worked on the map “Erangel” in their main headquarters in South Korea, some Americans built the military base for the map. They did such a good job that they hired them to establish a studio in Wisconsin. Thus, they have turned these outsourced “foreign asset suppliers” into their own artists.
Currently a mix: The Miramar map, it is said, is a mix of their own assets and purchased ones. Gradually, the proportion of their own assets is increasing. Also, the purchased assets are now being adjusted by their own employees.
How many times should we model a telephone booth? PUBG justifies its approach on reddit: it is economically sensible to buy assets. How many times should one model a telephone booth?, they ask. It makes more sense to have their own artists work on something for two weeks that really helps players.
Reality is different from reddit: The PUBG guy ends his post with the words: Such things are almost always significantly more complicated in reality than the Reddit meme version of them. One should keep this in mind in the future when spreading oversimplified versions of such stories.
Read more about the interesting development history of PUBG, which practically started with nothing and ended with a hit, here:
