Riot Games sue Vietnamese developer Imba Technology and has accused them of basically creating a League of Legends clone in its new game; I Am Hero: AFK Tactical Teamfight. Riot claims that the heroes featured in the new game are “deliberately designed to look like the champions of LoL,” which is a bit of a giveaway now, isn’t it?
Riot games suing the developer was filed last week at the US District Court, and because of League of Legend’s success and crazy popularity with mobile gamers, rival companies have sought to try and emulate Riot’s designs and create “knock-off versions.” Remember when Sega sued Fox over “alleged attempts” to copy Crazy Taxi with Simpsons Road Rage. Both are good games, may I add.
For starters, the name (I Am Hero: AFK Tactical Teamfight) is even ripped off from the League of Legends spin-off, Teamfight Tactics, and along with the characters, they claim that the lore of LoL is copied in this new game as well. With the similar-looking characters also having the same stories, almost word for word. Now, come on, at least try to disguise the fact you’ve made a League of Legends clone.
What does the Riot Games suing mean?
Riot Games will proceed to seek damages for some serious copyright infringement, and with a Cease-and-Desist letter being sent to Imba games last December, the wheels will soon be set in motion. Imba games even admitted to having “similar content” but denied that they crossed any copyright laws – firmly backing themselves into a corner, it seems. Riot has also asked the court if they can block future sales of I Am Hero as well, something that has yet to be confirmed if successful or not.
Riot games suing a developer isn’t even the first time in recent times that this problem has occurred for mobile game devs. There was a similar lawsuit from earlier in the month as well, with Krafton (creators of PUBG) claiming that 111dots Studio’s new game Garena Free Fire is a direct copy of PUBG. What is it with these mobile game companies trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes?
