PUBG: Battlegrounds Developer Targets Apple, Google and Others
Krafton, the developer of PUBG: Battlegrounds, is suing Apple, Google, YouTube and Garena. Garena is the developer for the mobile games Free Fire and Free Fire Max that Krafton alleges infringes on their copyright.
Krafton apparently reached out to Garena last month, requesting they stop development of these games, but the mobile game company refused. So the PUBG developer decided to escalate the situation and take them to court.
In addition, Krafton has named Apple and Gogle in the lawsuit as well. They are claiming the two tech giants are complicit in this copyright infringement, having done nothing to deter developers from ripping off established titles. YouTube is directly named as well as they host a number of Free Fire gameplay videos that promote the games.
While it is no secret that these mobiles store are filled with cheap knock-offs, Krafton is specifically calling out this developer. The company’s two games are free-to-play but feature micro transactions. So Krafton alleges these have made Garena hundreds of millions of dollars. The sticking point here is that Apple and Google get a cut of their mobile store revenue. Therefore, they are profiting directly off of Garena’s infringement.
As for the games themselves, they are very clearly similar to PUBG. They share similar aesthetics and gameplay. Moreover, Garena’s games even ripped off PUBG’s use of frying pans as melee weapons and armour.
It will be interesting to see how this lawsuit plays out. And if it will have a greater impact on the state of mobile gaming and mobile software stores going forward. Let us know your thoughts on the situation in the comments below.