Another day, another lawsuit. First it was Moonton, and now it is NetEase’s turn to face a legal battle from Riot Games.
Riot Games, developer of League of Legends and Valorant, is suing Chinese publisher NetEase for copyright infringement in the tactical first-person shooter game Hyper Front. Riot claims that Hyper Front is nothing more than a pale imitation of Valorant.
Riot has filed lawsuits worldwide, from the UK to Germany, Brazil and even Singapore. They are seeking “substantial damages”, although a figure has not been publicly specified. The main focus in these filings is the similarities between the two games in terms of characters, maps, weapons, weapon skins… the list just goes on. Riot’s lawyers cited a “copy of substantial parts” of Valorant in Hyper Front.
To be fair, these concerns of infringement aren’t exactly unfounded. First off, Hyper Front is a 5v5 shooter game, just like Valorant. Beyond that, there are similarities in certain characters, which Riot previously highlighted. Even upon its initial release, there was already speculation that a lawsuit was on the way due to the games looking similar, making this lawsuit seem long overdue.
Following these statements, NetEase initially made changes to Hyper Front to appease Riot. However, Riot claims that these changes were merely superficial and do not take away from the plagiarism at the core of the game.
This isn’t the only time Riot Games has been in court in recent memory. Just earlier this year in November, a suit against Mobile Legends: Bang Bang developer Moonton Technology was dismissed in California. This lawsuit was also for copyright infringement but does not seem to be progressing in Riot’s favour. Riot claimed that Moonton copied League of Legends and Wild Rift, specifically characters and artwork. Sounds familiar.
Leading up to the dismissal, the judge mentioned that the case should have been taking place in China, due to Riot Games’ parent company Tencent. It seems that Riot has learned from this by filing in multiple territories worldwide. They must be pretty determined to secure that money.
