Alleges it infringes on their IP rights for Fallout Shelter.
Warner Bros. has been doing a fair bit of Westworld everything. It’s kinda hard to blame them, really; Game of Thrones is heading into its final season, and Westworld is primed to ascend to the Iron Throne, as far as HBO is concerned. But, in the creation of Westworld: Delos Park Training Simulation, they may have crossed Bethesda. Which aside from the lawsuit, is probably not a great idea; they will not hesitate to launch another version of Skyrim at you
According to the suit they’ve filed, Warner Bros has, by its collaboration with the developer Behavior (which worked on Fallout Shelter before Westworld) breached Bethesda’s IP. As the suit puts it:
This is a civil action for breach of contract, copyright infringement, unfair competition, and misappropriation of trade secrets. Bethesda brings this action against Behaviour Interactive, Inc. (“Behaviour”) for breach of its contract regarding the developmen and ownership of FALLOUT SHELTER, a widely acclaimed mobile game owned and published by Bethesda. Bethesda also brings this action against Warner Bros. Entertainment (“Warner Bros.”) for inducement to breach that contract. Bethesda further brings this action against Behaviour and Warner Bros. (together, “Defendants”) for their willful and intentional infringement of Bethesda’s copyrights, misappropriation of Bethesda’s trade secrets, and deceptive business practices and unfair competition through their development, marketing, and promotion of the Westworld mobile game.
The crux essentially boils down to the fact that, while working with Warner Bros., Behavior reused code and assets from their previous work on Fallout Shelter. And Warner Bros. is also getting sued because they’re profiting off of the situation. Moreover, Bethesda alleges that both games have a similar play experience, going far enough to claim that the Westword app is a “blatant rip-off”.
Not only that, but Bethesda has collected accounts from journalists and the like who’ve played both games stating that they play similarly. Not to mention the multi-room underground bunkers, shading, room placement and more. Even including a few side-by-side screenshots of both games to prove that.
They also establish that both games have the exact same zoom bug that Fallout Shelter initially had. Not to mention the “Bar Room” which features patrons drinking oversized mugs of beer.
While some of the things Bethesda alleges can be overlooked, it’s not without merit. Doubly so if Behavior got lazy and reused code, which is not only possible but likely considering that both games have the same bug. In which case, both Warner Bros. and Behavior are going to be ponying up some Skyrim money.
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