Riot Games claims Hyper Front is a Valorant clone and sues NetEase

Riot Games, the Californian studio responsible for Valorant Y League of Legendshas sued the Asian tech giant NetEase for allegedly plagiarizing the shooter tactical, report from Polygon, where they have spoken with one of the lawyers managing the case, brought to court in the United States, Germany, Brazil, the United Kingdom and Singapore. Riot seeks that withdraw the game and an economic reward for “substantial” damages.

NetEase is the publisher of Hyper Front, a hero-based competitive 5-count-5 multiplayer tactical shooter that will be released this year for Android and iPhone mobiles in some countries (in USA and the US it is not available, but it is listed in the American Google Play Store). . The title has more than 1 million downloads and 48,000 ratingswhich testifies to its popularity.

Riot Games’ lawyers list in the lawsuit filed in the United Kingdom some of the elements of Valorant that supposedly have been traced in Hyper Front: characters, maps, weapons, weapon skins, charms, and stats of weapons. “All our creative choices are replicated in the NetEase game,” says Dan Nabel, a Riot lawyer, to the American outlet.

“We don’t think that change the color of a character’s ability or slightly modifying the visual appearance changes the fact that it infringes intellectual property. It’s like the old saying, ‘You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig,’” Nabel concludes. NetEase has slightly changed elements of its game following complaints from Riot.

The lawyer affirms that the case has been taken to several courts because the copyright it’s a territorial issue and because NetEase, like Riot Games, operates worldwide. also compares the situation to another dispute involving NetEase: PUBG Corp. sued the Chinese company for Knives Out Y Rules of Survivaltwo games that allegedly plagiarized PUBG Buttlegrounds. The case was settled between the two parties, out of court, in 2019.

Riot announced ValorantMobile in 2021

Valorant It has been available on PC since 2020, and it has not stopped receiving agents, maps, game modes and a multitude of adjustments since its release. Riot Games announced in June last year ValorantMobile, but the release date of the game for Android and iOS is not yet known. Also, the studio is hiring staff to bring the game to consoles, although this version has not been officially announced.