Bethesda Settles Copyright Dispute
If you cast your mind back around 6 months, you may recall a Westworld game was released on mobile phones. There was, however, something that all seemed rather familiar about it. Whether by accident or design, the game seemed to more than heavily replicate the style seen from the ‘Fallout Shelter’ game that Bethesda had earlier released.
It was so similar, in fact, that it actually led Bethesda to launch legal action against Warner Bros and the games creator Behavior Interactive. It seems, however, that in a report via GamesIndustry, the case has now been settled.
The Claim
Bethesda openly accused Warner Brothers of now only using various assets from their Fallout game, but also directly stealing code. Rather a serious accusation in the gaming world. Warner Brothers always denied this as “unsubstantiated”. In a joint statement, the companies have said: “Bethesda Softworks and Behaviour Interactive jointly announced today that the parties have amicably resolved the lawsuit Bethesda brought against Behaviour and others related to the Fallout Shelter and Westworld mobile games.”
An Agreement!
Well, there we have to enter the realms of speculation. You see, no details surrounding this have actually been given although this isn’t uncommon for ‘settled’ legal matters. We, therefore, don’t know whether Bethesda’s accusations were true. Given that there hasn’t been a counter-suit, however, we can only presume that there must have been some truth behind it all. It seems, however, that neither party seemingly wanted to go fully down the legal road with this one.
In fairness, that generally tends to be a rather costly venture. As such, the decision does make sense. Particularly for something as relatively benign as a mobile game.
What do you think? Was the Westworld game a rip-off? What do you think the agreement is? In addition, where do you think the money is now going? – Let us know in the comments!
