Bluehole to Sue Games that Mimick Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds

Chinese game developers who attempt to shave production costs and guarantee popularity by copying top games may face trouble, TechWeb reported on November 27. Such “theft”, while immoral, has always manage to escape punishment.

But the number of games mimicking Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds has caught the attention of South Korean developer Bluehole. In the App Store, there are dozens of games mimicking Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, rules and some even game props.

SEE ALSO: Tencent Named Exclusive China Agent, Operator of Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds

In addition to Bluehole, South Korea’s Nexon, NCsoft and other major game publishers have joined the battle to protect their rights. Their recently established South Korean Game Industry Association and officially announced action to protect their rights against China’s knockoffs. Bluehole also said it would cooperate with Tencent and use the law to protect its intellectual property rights against several Chinese companies it accused of copying Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds and Dungeon and Fighter.

Many game makers in China lack copyright awareness, believing that copying is not intellectual property theft but merely following the trend. Once the company is sued, it disbands since it has already earned money from the game and no longer needs to operate. This makes it difficult to protect property rights. But this kind of behavior brings nothing but harm. As players, although we can’t use the law to punish this kind of company, we can choose to refuse their games. This will help the game industry to develop better.