Riot Games to sue NetEase for FPS title Hyper Front
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Riot Games to sue NetEase for 5v5 FPS Hyper Front
In recent events, Riot Games has filed a lawsuit against Chinese video game giant NetEase, for copying content from Valorant, a Riot Games original. Valorant is a 5v5 FPS which is currently only exclusive to PC. It was launched in 2020 July, and since then, it has gained massive popularity in the gaming community with thousands of fans watching Valorant streams at any time of the day.
NetEase is currently dominating the Android gaming market with games like Knives Out. NetEase launched Hyper Front which is a 5V5 FPS game, for mobile devices in some exclusive markets like the Philippines, Malaysia & Thailand which Riot claims is a “copy of substantial parts of VALORANT.”
Riot filed the lawsuit in the United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, and Singapore. According to the developers, there are several similarities between the two games like the maps, abilities, and weapons.
READ MORE: Will Riot Games bring Valorant to consoles?
Riot Games accuse NetEase’s Hyper Front of stealing content from Valorant
This lawsuit from Riot is 162 games long and has left no stone unturned. It shows a detailed comparison between all the characters, maps, user experience, gameplay, skins, and guns. Riot intents to get NetEase to shut down Hyper Front for replicating Valorant all before their big release of Valorant Mobile, which is under development as of now and is expected to be launched in 2023.
READ MORE: Valorant Mobile Clone Hyperfront by NetEase Games
NetEase has faced several accusations of copying content from the games. In fact, Krafton also sued NetEase for copying content from PUBG and adding it to Knives Out and Rules of Survival. Dan Nabel, a senior director from Riot Games told Polygon:
"We don’t think that changing the color of a character's ability or slightly modifying the visual appearance changes the fact that it’s copyright infringement. It’s like that old saying, ‘You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig' All of our creative choices are mirrored in NetEase’s game"
Dan Nabel also explained why they filed the case in several courts in the world.
"We don’t want to rely on one particular market to have this issue resolved. NetEase is a global publisher, as are we. We want them to know that we take the matter very seriously.'
Hyper Front got massive hype as it was commonly known as the mobile version of Valorant. It got millions of downloads and the players even played in some regional tournaments in the game. If Riot wins this case, then NetEase will have to completely change the game or take it off the market and in addition to that, they will also have to pay a hefty sum to the Valorant developers.
READ MORE: Microsoft reportedly offered Sony a 10-year deal to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation
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Pranay Bisht
(112 Articles Published)