Riot Games is suing Chinese tech giant NetEase for ‘copying’ Valorant

Riot Games, best known for the games League of Legends and Valorant, is suing the Chinese tech company NetEase because the game Hyper Front ‘copis substantial parts of Valorant’. This would include similarities in weapons, characters and maps.

Against Polygon says Dan Nabel, Riot Games’ attorney, that “all of our creative decisions are reflected in NetEase’s game.” The studio cites several similarities. In addition to similar characters, maps, weapons, skins and charms, it would also be about the stats of weapons. After an initial complaint from Riot Games, NetEase slightly modified the game, but not enough according to Riot.

The charges were filed on October 21, but will not be filed until December brought outside. Riot Games is taking the case to courts in the United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil and Singapore. Riot Games previously sued a Vietnamese game maker over a copy of League of Legends. Also PUBG Corp. previously accused NetEase of two mobile games infringing on PlayerUnknown’s: Battlegrounds.

Hyper Front is a free-to-play shooter for Android and iOS where teams of five compete against each other in different game modes. The game was released in July of this year. Valorant was already released for PC in 2020 and Riot Games is currently working on a mobile version. The game is seen as one of the most popular online multiplayer games of the moment.

Image: Riot Games/NetEase through polygon