GTL: Bethesda Takes Legal Action Against Warner Bros
By Twin Galaxies Editorial Staff ·
Bethesda claims the new WB Games/ Behavior Interactive Westworld mobile game is a rip-off of Fallout Shelter– so they're taking them to court. Meanwhile, companies like tencent aim to adapt their mobile games for the Nintendo Switch.
Copycat game development has almost always been an issue in the industry, but a lawsuit from Bethesda against Warner Bros and an overflow of mobile games into the Switch may have people up in more arms than usual over the subject. In this episode of Game Talk Live, host Mandie Roman discusses the matter with the help of an expert panel of guests, including game developer Kevin Mahoney and streamer, gamer, and costume designer Candice Gomez, AKA VampireKitten.
First up, Bethesda launches a lawsuit against Behavior Interactive and Warner Bros after it appears that a Westworld game created by Behavior uses code from Fallout Shelter. The panel begins by speaking about who is actually responsible for the issue, if Bethesda truly has a case, and if Behavior is truly at risk for the issue.
Furthermore, the discussion covers whether or not Warner could be truly held responsible for the matter and if Westworld truly is too close to Fallout Shelter to be allowed to legally exist by copyright law standards.
In addition to this issue with Fallout Shelter and Westworld, a recent app appeared on the mobile market which blatantly copies Donut County, which has been in development by Ben Esposito under publisher Annapurna Interactive for the past 5 years. The team questions what could could have been done to keep such a theft of style from happening, as well as the nature of mobile development worldwide.
"@PaladinsGame …was a blatant ripoff [of @PlayOverwatch]. I think @HiRezStudios is pretty good at looking at an idea and saying ‘That’s a good idea. We’ll do something like that.’" -@kabojnk
— GameTalkLive (@GameTalkLive) June 27, 2018
Watch Live: https://t.co/vDD67TRHJh #gamedev #MobileGame #mobilegames #Overwatch pic.twitter.com/WGlPS68m07
Next up in this episode, the panel discusses the sheer mass of games being ported to the Nintendo Switch. With indie and mobile developers moving games like Arena of Valor and Hollow Knight to the Nintendo Switch, is the Switch becoming a shovelware destination in a way that the Wii console before was, or are the games of suitable quality to ensure a solid library on the Switch?
The team dives deeper into Arena of Valor in particular, discussing how the popular MOBA could survive on the console market, as well as what sort of life it could bring over to the American market. Moreover, does moving mobile titles over to Nintendo, not just like Arena of Valor, but many other games as well, hurt the overall quality of the Nintendo Switch's offerings?
Last Call to Apply for our NA & EU Switch Closed Beta! Don't miss out on the chance to play Arena of Valor on the Switch! #AoV #ArenaofValor #NintendoSwitch https://t.co/wpEFRut6sr pic.twitter.com/aeezim8LvY
— Arena of Valor (@ArenaofValor) June 23, 2018
This episode of Game Talk Live has ended, but you can catch the episode in its entirety in the video above. Be sure to catch the previous episode as well where the team talks about whether VidCon and TanaCon are more trouble than they're worth anymore.