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

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 “numerous posts containing a feature-length Chinese film that is nothing more than a blatantly infringing live-action dramatization of Battlegrounds.”

The video games Krafton takes challenge with are referred to as Free Fire and Free Fire Max, provided by developer Garena. On each the App Store and Google Play, they present up as Garena Free Fire and Garena Free Fire Max. Both can be found without spending a dime with in-app purchases.

According to Krafton:

Free Fire and Free Fire Max extensively copy quite a few points of Battlegrounds, each individually and together, together with Battlegrounds’ copyrighted distinctive sport opening “air drop” function, the sport construction and play, the mixture and collection of weapons, armor, and distinctive objects, places, and the general alternative of colour schemes, supplies, and textures.

Krafton alleges Garena has earned “hundreds of millions of dollars” from gross sales from the apps and that Apple and Google have “similarly earned a substantial amount of revenue from their distribution of Free Fire.”

Krafton claims that on December twenty first, it took a couple of actions: it requested Garena to “immediately stop its exploitation of Free Fire and Free Fire Max,” which Garena apparently refused; it requested Apple and Google to cease distributing the video games, that are each nonetheless accessible on each app shops; and it requested YouTube to take away movies that includes Free Fire and Free Fire Max gameplay “that include elements that blatantly infringe Battlegrounds and, separately, the infringing feature-length film,” which Krafton says YouTube hasn’t completed.

In case you’re questioning about that movie:

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

I’ll admit that I hadn’t heard of Free Fire earlier than this lawsuit, however I’ve since realized that it’s fairly profitable. Free Fire 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 p.c from 2020. While the overall greenback quantity is kind of a bit lower than the astonishing $2.9 billion that PUBG Mobile earned in participant spending final 12 months, PUBG Mobile’s figures have been up solely seven p.c year-over-year, studies Sensor Tower. That might recommend PUBG Mobile’s progress is slowing down simply as Free Fire’s is skyrocketing.

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