Topic: PUBG exec comments on Fortnight BR

[idolminds]

BLUEHOLE INC. - CREATORS OF PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS - RESPONDS TO COMMUNITY CONCERN SURROUNDING FORTNITE’S BATTLE ROYALE MODE
 
 
 Bluehole, Inc., developers of PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS (PUBG), the first standalone Battle Royale survival shooter game, responded today to growing concerns regarding the similarities between the battle royale mode in Epic Games’ newly revealed Fortnite and PUBG.
 
 “We’ve had an ongoing relationship with Epic Games throughout PUBG’s development as they are the creators of UE4, the engine we licensed for the game,” said Chang Han Kim, Vice President and Executive Producer for Bluehole, Inc. “After listening to the growing feedback from our community and reviewing the gameplay for ourselves, we are concerned that Fortnite may be replicating the experience for which PUBG is known.”
 
 The development team for PUBG has no relationship to Fortnite’s development as concerns around User Interface (UI), gameplay and structural replication in the battle royale mode exist.
 
 “We have also noticed that Epic Games references PUBG in the promotion of Fortnite to their community and in communications with the press,” Chang Han Kim continues. “This was never discussed with us and we don’t feel that it’s right.”
 
 With its release on March 23, 2017, PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS is a last man standing shooter that drops players on a realistic 8 x 8 km island where they start with nothing in an ever diminishing field of play. Gamers must fight to locate weapons, vehicles and supplies as they strive to be the lone survivor.
 
 In a recent Reddit AMA (e.g. Ask Me Anything) session, Brendan Greene (aka PLAYERUKNOWN) was asked about other companies replicating the Battle Royale experience:
 
 “Other companies will, of course, enter the marketplace, but I would just hope they put their own spin on the game mode and not just make a carbon copy!”
 
 Chang Han Kim closed, “The PUBG community has and continues to provide evidence of the many similarities as we contemplate further action.”

I have a few thoughts on this. Obviously, with PUBGs success clones were an inevitability. I think Bluehole was caught off guard thinking it would be much longer before one could be developed. This is made worse in that Epic will be the one to put a battle royale game on consoles first, and for free. That makes it harder for Bluehole who have plans for console versions of their game.

Where it gets weird is Epic and Bluehole have a business relationship since Bluehole is using UE4 for PUBG. I imagine that makes things a little weird when asking support questions, like "How would we implement X feature" means Epic could take that and also put it in their game.

On the other hand, this is kind of how the game industry goes. It would be like id Software getting mad about "Doom clones" back in the day or every game that had deathmatch or CTF. Fortnite does take quite a few things from PUBG: the shrinking blue circle, jumping out of a plane at the start, etc. But having every object in the map be destructible, being able to build your own bases, placing traps, the loot system is way different. I feel like they are similar games that each offer something different, not a straight up clone.

[Xessive]

Why is this even an issue? It's not like PUBG invented Battle Royale. That alone indicates it's referential and not original.

[idolminds]

It was a bit silly for them to make this announcement. I think it honestly just gave Fortnite a bunch of exposure, which was probably the opposite of what they want.

[PyroMenace]

Pretty much was Xessive said. PUBG is in no way original at all, in fact I honestly feel like the game is over blown by its hype and popularity. After playing it with you guys I was more or less like "Yup, I know what this game is." I really didnt have the experience everyone else was apparently.

[K-man]

Pretty much was Xessive said. PUBG is in no way original at all, in fact I honestly feel like the game is over blown by its hype and popularity. After playing it with you guys I was more or less like "Yup, I know what this game is." I really didnt have the experience everyone else was apparently.

It's a "sum of its parts" thing for me.  I love the exploration and treasure hunting component.  in fact I wish there was a "free" mode where you could just explore the island at your leisure.  Couple that with the eerie tension, playing/communing with friends, and it just hits home.  OW scratched that mp itch for a while, but i think on the whole BG does a much better job for me.

[Xessive]

It's a unique case.

I didn't see Sony go after PUBG for iterating on H1Z1; so it seems especially presumptuous of Bluehole to make such a statement about the matter.

If there's one thing I could see against Epic, it's that they specifically referred to PUBG in their announcement of Battle Royale mode. They didn't take the traditional route of allusion or vague reference to their "competition."

I just hope this doesn't have an overly negative impact on the creative process of game development. I realize that copying a gameplay style is not creative per se, but art can be iterative, derivative, or mimetic.

[PyroMenace]

I was listening to the bombcast of about 2 weeks ago and listened to them talk about some more details unfolding about this. I think Bluehole would still be in a good position on this but only if they would just shutup and just let the games speak for themselves. It seems pretty clear that Fortnite is trying to eat some of PUBG's lunch but of course they would, they are the first in what's probably going to be a big line of competitors coming in on this. And again, PUBG isn't original, its just the best at what its doing so far, so if they just keep doing that and stop coming off as some holier than thou devs that invented it all, it would all go so much smoother for them. I mean look at how Overwatch vs Battleborn went down, its not the devs that kept proclaiming their game is better, it's their fans.

[idolminds]

Unreal Engine optimizations for Fortnite Battle Royale

Not unexpected, but another interesting wrinkle here. Since Epic is making their own BR game they are running into the same issues Bluehole is with the engine. Epic has a reason to fix and optimize for their game and all that will be pushed out and useful to everyone, including Bluehole and PUBG specifically.

[MysterD]

PUBG Corp. and Bluehole are taking Epic to court over Epic's Fortnite being too much like PUBG:
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2018/05/28/pubg-corp-takes-epic-to-court-over-battlegrounds-similarities.aspx

[Cobra951]

The story says it's a copyright-infringement claim.  That would mean that tangible assets like code, text or images were stolen from one work and incorporated into the other (allegedly), at least under our laws.  To make this about an idea, it normally needs to involve patents, not copyrights.  I haven't seen the complaint itself.  It may be entirely different.  If it is about unpatented ideas or processes, good luck with that.  Games have been getting flagrantly copied for decades without any legal consequences, because nothing protects their premises or gameplay.  Only the code and data submitted to the copyright office get protection.

One more observation:  Neither of these companies originated the concept of battle royale.  So I can't see where either can claim ownership of it.

[idolminds]

It all seems pretty frivolous. What do they expect the court to do even if they win? Shut down Fortnite entirely? Or just get a pile of money and piss off the company that makes the engine your game runs on?

[Cobra951]

Civil cases are like a crapshoot (again, under our laws).  They usually get settled before they ever go to trial, if they survive preliminary motions.  But in this case, I see no merit at all, no reason to settle.  Something we know nothing about would have to be involved to make it anything but frivolous.  I'm hoping it just gets dismissed.  (It should be.)