PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) has actually filed a lawsuit against Fortnite. It concerns a violation of copyright. The lawsuit has been ongoing since January 2018 in South Korea.
Lawsuit filed in January: As reported by the Korean Times, PUBG Corporation has filed a complaint against Epic Games. The court is supposed to determine whether the game from Epic Games “Fortnite” is a copy of “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” and whether copyright has been violated. It is an injunction lawsuit.
Lawsuit ongoing in South Korea: An official representative of PUBG said on Friday that they filed the lawsuit back in January. The lawsuit is ongoing at the “Seoul Central District Court” against Epic Games Korea.
No public statements on the legal dispute
This is what PUBG says: PUBG told the Korean gaming site Inven that they do not want to share any details or the progress of the process. The lawsuit was filed in January to protect copyright.
This is what Epic says: Epic states that there is nothing to share with the public about the process as long as it is still an ongoing procedure.
Evidence of 11 major similarities
Similarities between Fortnite and PUBG: According to a report from Inven, PUBG has submitted evidence of 11 major similarities between Fortnite and PUBG. These similarities include:
- the style of the interface,
- the mini-map,
- the overlay of the crosshair,
- the way health points regenerate,
- and the number of players in a match.
There was trouble back in September
Dispute arose in September: The current lawsuit continues a public dispute between PUBG and Fortnite from September 2017. At that time, PUBG complained that Fortnite was introducing a “Battle Royale” mode that clearly relied on PUBG and sought proximity to PUBG in advertising. Epic is the developer of the Unreal Engine, which is also used by PUBG. Therefore, they are partners. Developer Bluehole found it particularly frustrating that such competition was coming from a business partner.
Fortnite has overtaken PUBG: Since September 2017, a lot has changed. Back then, PUBG was the huge giant in PC gaming and Fortnite, with its PvE mode, was actually failing. However, Fortnite: Battle Royale has now surpassed PUBG as a free alternative and is enjoying worldwide success. The game is free to play on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and iOS. A port for Android and a release in China are expected to follow. Currently, Fortnite earns over 296 million US dollars a month. Hardly anyone would have believed that possible back in September 2017.
Release of Fortnite in South Korea likely the reason
Fortnite is set to come to Korea: Epic Games is currently preparing to bring Fortnite to South Korea. They have formed a partnership with Neowiz Games, the company behind the MMORPG “Bless.” The two companies plan to release Fortnite in the country’s internet cafes in the second quarter of 2018. Apparently, this is the reason for PUBG to file a lawsuit. Their parent company Bluehole is also based in South Korea.
Could the Fortnite servers be shut down due to the lawsuit?
Before it was a fake: Ironically, there were rumors some time ago that PUBG had sued Fortnite. When on April 12 the servers at Fortnite were down for an extended period, fake news circulated that it was due to a lawsuit by PUBG. Therefore, Fortnite was supposedly “banned” and the servers would be shut down. That was a blatant lie at that time. Ironically, however, the lawsuit was indeed already underway in South Korea. But whether the injunction lawsuit, if successful, will actually have an impact on our Fortnite servers remains to be doubted. We do not know much about the legal dispute yet, but it seems to be about the release of Fortnite in South Korea.
