Earlier this year, NetEase‘s Hyper Front blew onto the mobile gaming scene, making quite some noise as many considered it to be a mobile version of Valorant, since it very obviously pretty much-cloned Riot’s popular tactical shooter. And now, Riot Games has taken notice of this and filed cases in the United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, and Singapore for violation of copyright and has sued Hyper Front.
Riot wants Hyper Front to be taken down and seeks “substantial” damages
Riot has decided to file the complaint in various courts around the world in order to ensure that the game is completely taken down in their 162-page legal document, they pointed out several similarities between the two titles and in a statement issued to Polygon by Riot Games’ Lawyer Dan Nabel says “All of our creative choices are mirrored in NetEase’s game. We don’t think that changing the color of a character 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.”
NetEase has had a history of making games with a close likeness to other titles, with another example being Lost Light, a game that many considered a copy of Escape from Tarkov, and with Valorant Mobile being in the works and gearing up to be shown off to the public, this wasn’t unexpected. Nabel added to his statement, saying “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.”
Considering just how extensively NetEase copied Valorant, the chances of the game being taken down are quite probable. Riot is also looking for damages. Although this isn’t the first time, a mobile game was accused of copyright infringement with Area F2 being sued for a similar crime and ultimately shut down by Ubisoft due to its likeness and similarity to Rainbow Six Siege
What are your thoughts as Riot Games sued NetEase due to copyright infringement for its action title Hyper Front? Let us know in the comments below!
For more Mobile Gaming news and updates, join our WhatsApp group, Telegram Group, or Discord server. Also, follow us on Google News, Instagram, and Twitter for quick updates.
