Bethesda Softworks has filed a lawsuit against the Canadian studio Behavior Interactive. The reason was the Westworld mobile game based on the TV series of the same name, developed by Behavior. Bethesda claims that Westworld is an explicit clone of the Fallout Shelter mobile simulator, created based on the source code of the game without the permission of the copyright holder.
The lawsuit says that Westworld repeats the game design, art style, animations, features and other gameplay elements of Fallout Shelter. Proof of the use of the original resources of the game in Westworld are some bugs that were fixed in Fallout Shelter, but remained in the demo version of Westworld. For example, errors in the behavior of the game camera.
Examples of similarities between Fallout Shelter and Westworld from the case materials
Bethesda requires Behavior and game publisher Warner Bros. compensate for the damage caused and cancel the further development and release of Westworld.
The original Fallout Shelter was developed by Behavior by order of Bethesda in 2014, a year later the owners of the Fallout franchise opened their own division to support and develop the mobile project. The new department was headed by Yves Lachance, former Vice President of Behavior for Publishing and Strategic Partnership.
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Source: Games Industry