Square Enix has filed a lawsuit against one of its former contractors. The main accusation is the illegal use of intellectual property under the Front Mission brand.
Mecharashi
The court documents mention various legal company names, which creates confusion. Therefore, we will briefly outline the chronology of events and the essence of Square Enix's claims below:
- In 2019, Square Enix signed a contract with the Chinese publisher ZlongGame and its division, BlackJack Studio, to develop the mobile game Front Mission 2089: Borderscape;
- In 2022, the parties terminated the licensing agreement, and Square Enix canceled the production of the project;
- Last year, Hong Kong publisher Ten Tree, in partnership with BlackJack, released a mobile mecha game initially launched in Hong Kong under the name 鋼嵐, while the Japanese version was titled メタルストーム (Metal Storm);
- According to AppMagic, it generated $13.7 million in net revenue from IAP since April 2024: 62% came from Japan, and another 14% from Hong Kong;
- During the same period, a Steam version of Metal Storm was released, listing BlackJack Studio as the developer— the project was subsequently removed from the store;
- Metal Storm became the subject of the legal dispute in Square Enix's lawsuit— the company claims that BlackJack and Ten Tree illegally used assets and other elements from Front Mission 2089;
- Currently, the Metal Storm page is available on Steam under the name Mecharashi— BlackJack Studio is still mentioned as the developer, but the publisher is now the Korean company Sugarfun Game;
- In essence, Mecharashi is the global version of Metal Storm (BlackJack and Ten Tree are now preparing the project for release on PC and mobile devices);
- The developers describe the game as a turn-based tactical action game with a combat system reminiscent of Front Mission.
As evidence, Square Enix provides 11 pages of screenshots comparing Mecharashi (Metal Storm) and the Front Mission 2089 prototype. The resemblance is indeed apparent.
Interestingly, Ten Tree was chosen as the main defendant, rather than BlackJack Studio or ZlongGame. However, Square Enix notes that all the aforementioned legal entities are responsible. The lawsuit was filed in an American court since publisher Ten Tree operates under U.S. jurisdiction, distributing Mecharashi through Steam among other platforms.
Square Enix is demanding $150,000 for copyright infringement and seeks the removal of the game from digital stores.
Screenshots comparing the canceled Front Mission 2089: Borderscape (left) and Mecharashi | Metal Storm (right)