PUBG Corp. is suing Fortnite maker Epic Games for copyright infringement

PUBG Corp, creator of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, has sued Korea Fortnite developer Epic Games for copyright infringement. According to Korea Times, the question is whether Fortnite copied PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.

A court in Seoul, South Korea, is considering whether Epic Games with Fortnite’s battle royale mode is responsible for an intellectual property infringement of PUBG Corp. Korea Times reports that an employee of PUBG Corp. has said a subpoena was issued as early as January. At the moment there are no further details about the case.

In September, the developer of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds complained about Epic Games for claiming Fortnite was too much of a copy: “We had an ongoing relationship with Epic Games throughout the development of PUBG because they are the creators of Unreal Engine 4, the engine that we use for the game. After listening to comments from the community and researching the game itself, we fear that Fortnite is copying the PUBG experience,” said then-Bluehole.

Later, the creator of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds nuanced the criticism. The developer said the criticism isn’t so much about copying the battle royale mode, but about Fortnite’s direct references to PUBG. This would also have been done to promote Fortnite, without consultation about it. According to producer Changhan Kim of PUBG Corp. As a result, misunderstandings have arisen in the community, with players thinking that the developer would also be involved in the development of Fortnite.