Krafton is suing Google, YouTube and Apple over possible PUBG clones

By: Vadim Osiyuk | 16.01.2022, 15:13

Playerunknown's Battlegrounds Studio Krafton has filed a lawsuit against Apple, Google, YouTube and free gaming companies Garena over two mobile games, Free Fire (originally called Free Fire: Battlegrounds) and Free Fire: Max, which she said "widely copy many aspects" of the innovative Battle Royale games.

According to the lawsuit, Garena began selling Free Fire in Singapore in 2017, shortly after the launch of PUBG. Obviously, this led to a complaint and a settlement, but this settlement did not involve any license agreement or permission to distribute the game. However, the same year the mobile version of the game appeared in the App Store and Google Play, and in 2018 - Free Fire Max.

The lawsuit alleges that both games duplicate PUBG features, including "a unique air drop feature, game structure, and a combination of weapons, armor, and unique objects, locations, and overall color schemes, materials, and textures."

Crafton claims that Garena has earned "hundreds of millions of dollars" worldwide through sales and purchases of applications. She also points the finger at Apple and Google, which have made money on in-app purchases (each receiving a percentage of purchases through their in-game payment processing systems), while refusing Krafton's request to stop distributing games. 

YouTube has also been named for posting (and refusing to delete) videos of Free Fire and Free Fire Max, as well as the Chinese feature film Biubiubiu, "an unauthorized adaptation of Battlegrounds that features a dramatized version of the live action." Battlegrounds gameplay.