An interesting lawsuit is brewing between two titans of the entertainment industry. As gaming giant Bethesda is suing Warner Bros and developer Behaviour for “stealing” their Fallout Shelter game and turning it into a title based on the hit HBO show called “Westworld”. According to Bethesda, Behaviour, who actually helped make Fallout Shelter, used code from the game, and mimicked assets, settings, animations, and more to make the Westworld title. And as such, they want compensation and admittance to what was done from both companies.
This is a very interesting situation to be sure, and one that will have a unique ending no matter what way it falls. IGN reached out to Warner Bros about this, and made the following statement:
“As one of the world’s leading creators of intellectual property, including the ground-breaking television series Westworld, Warner Bros. has a deep respect for intellectual property rights. As such, the assertions by Bethesda Softworks that Warner’s Westworld mobile game improperly used source code from Bethesda’s Fallout Shelter are as surprising as they are unsubstantiated. Warner Bros. has been assured by the game developer, Behaviour Interactive, that Bethesda’s allegations are untrue and that none of Bethesda’s code was used in the Westworld game. Moreover, contrary to Bethesda’s baseless accusation, Warner Bros. at no time “induced” Behaviour to use the Fallout Shelter code in Westworld.”
It’s not a surprise that Warner Bros would deny these allegations. Likely, they’re being truthful in their belief that they did not steal from Bethesda, nor did they encourage Behavior to steal code or anything of the like.
While there are no doubt similarities between the games, there are differences as well. It should also be noted that a similar lawsuit happened between PUBG Court and Epic Games recently over what happened with Fortnite’s Battle Royale Mode. PUBG sued Epic Games, but then withdrew the lawsuit. Could the same thing happen here?
