PUBG’s developer is suing Apple, Google, and the developer of profitable PUBG lookalike Free Fireplace

PUBG-maker Krafton filed a big lawsuit Monday: it’s suing the developer of two cell video games that it accuses of copying PUBG: Battlegrounds, the hit PC battle royale shooter, and it’s suing Apple and Google for distributing these video games on their app shops. Krafton even accuses Google of internet hosting YouTube movies with gameplay of the 2 video games in query, in addition to “quite a few posts containing a feature-length Chinese language movie that’s nothing greater than a blatantly infringing live-action dramatization of Battlegrounds.”

The video games Krafton takes subject with are referred to as Free Fireplace and Free Fireplace Max, supplied by developer Garena. On each the App Retailer and Google Play, they present up as Garena Free Fireplace and Garena Free Fireplace Max. Each can be found at no cost with in-app purchases.

In response to Krafton:

Free Fireplace and Free Fireplace Max extensively copy quite a few facets of Battlegrounds, each individually and together, together with Battlegrounds’ copyrighted distinctive recreation opening “air drop” characteristic, the sport construction and play, the mixture and number of weapons, armor, and distinctive objects, places, and the general alternative of shade schemes, supplies, and textures.

Krafton alleges Garena has earned “a whole bunch of tens of millions of {dollars}” from gross sales from the apps and that Apple and Google have “equally earned a considerable quantity of income from their distribution of Free Fireplace.”

Picture: Krafton

Krafton claims that on December twenty first, it took just a few actions: it requested Garena to “instantly cease its exploitation of Free Fireplace and Free Fireplace Max,” which Garena apparently refused; it requested Apple and Google to cease distributing the video games, that are each nonetheless out there on each app shops; and it requested YouTube to take away movies that includes Free Fireplace and Free Fireplace Max gameplay “that embody parts that blatantly infringe Battlegrounds and, individually, the infringing feature-length movie,” which Krafton says YouTube hasn’t carried out.

In case you’re questioning about that movie:

Krafton additionally notes that Garena offered a recreation in Singapore in 2017 that “copied” PUBG: Battlegrounds. Whereas claims concerning that had been settled, there was no license settlement established, in response to the lawsuit.

I’ll admit that I hadn’t heard of Free Fireplace earlier than this lawsuit, however I’ve since discovered that it’s fairly profitable. Free Fireplace earned $1.1 billion in participant spending in 2021, in response to information that analytics agency Sensor Tower shared with The Verge, an quantity that was up 48 % from 2020. Whereas the whole greenback quantity is kind of a bit lower than the astonishing $2.9 billion that PUBG Cellular earned in participant spending final 12 months, PUBG Cellular’s figures had been up solely seven % year-over-year, reviews Sensor Tower. That would recommend PUBG Cellular’s development is slowing down simply as Free Fireplace’s is skyrocketing.

We additionally checked with one other analytics agency, Appfigures, and whereas the info was totally different, it nonetheless instructed that Free Fireplace is catching up. PUBG Cellular, PUBG Cellular Lite, and the China- and India-specific variations of PUBG Cellular earned a mixed $639 million in income final 12 months, in response to Appfigures, whereas Free Fireplace earned $414 million.

Apple and Google didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. Jason Golz, a spokesperson for Garena parent company Sea, tells The Verge that “Krafton’s claims are groundless.”