https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2018/05/134_249598.html
PUBG Corp (formerly Bluehole Ginno) had previously made noise before about not being pleased with Epic Games (accusing them of copying portions of PUBG for use in Fortnite when the latter added a battle royale mode). As I opined in my prior post, the battle royale concept is not something that PUBG invented.
PUBG does license Unreal Engine 4 from Epic Games which creates an interesting situation since PUBG’s success does translate into increased revenues for Epic (there are varying licensing terms depending on certain metrics including total player population). It may also create a legal quandry depending on the licensing terms (in regards to litigation of the licensee against the licensor). Like would Epic Games terminate PUBG Corp’s license for Unreal Engine 4 (which means they would also kill a revenue source from that license) and if so, how much that would put PUBG (the game) out of commission until it can be redone in another engine. I’m no lawyer though so this is just me streaming some thoughts out of my head…
Additionally, this may not even stand up in a court of law because Apple for the most part, lost their 1988 copyright infringement lawsuit against Microsoft. In short, Apple had accused Microsoft of copying a number of graphical user interface elements from the Mac’s operating system in Windows 2.0.x. Part of that was due to the original agreement between the two companies prior to Windows 2.0. Other parts were due to the judge ruling that certain things could not be copyrighted. Again, IANAL.
Some of this may also be predicated on how much ducks PUBG Corp lined up in terms of registering for trade dress protection where they feel so strongly that the UI elements (which need to be non-functional) presents a strong case that makes PUBG’s interface an important part of distinguishing their game from other ones that have a similar battle royale mode.
I’m thinking that Fortnite and PUBG are so generally different looking in terms of visual artwork that this won’t even stand either. I have no sympathy for PUBG Corp given how their preceding organizational structure (Bluehole Ginno) handled Devilian when it came to developing new content for their publishing licensees (as I noted before, their NA/EU publisher Trion Worlds contributed greatly to the demise of Devilian and Bluehole Ginno in general when they downsized the team just 6 months post launch (with no actual producer to work with Ginno for addressing issues and new content) which eventually led to decreasing player population/revenues (at which point, Ginno had to look for another avenue of revenues; thus the PUBG angle). That shouldn’t mean you just stop supporting that title (Devilian) like what happened near the end (it amounts to professional neglect).
As I mentioned before, PUBG Corp’s CEO is Chang-Han Kim. He was a co-founder of Ginno Games (what became Bluehole Ginno after being acquired by Bluehole Studios which is now known simply as Bluehole). He served as CTO and also was the executive producer for Devilian. He’s gone from the #2 guy dealing with a floundering franchise to the head honcho leading a wildly successful (completely unexpected) one. Don’t let that success get to your head because something like a PUBG isn’t what you would call rife with intellectual property. And just like how at one time, DayZ was all the rage, players in this particular genre can jump off the ship really quickly when the next FoTM comes out.
Fortnite BR has been doing well in its own right which could be why PUBG Corp is reacting this way. I question the wisdom though when Bluehole in general, licenses Unreal Engine (both 3 & 4) for their main titles (TERA uses an older build of UE3, their upcoming title Ascent: Infinite Realm uses UE3, and PUBG uses UE4). A nasty lawsuit could backfire on Bluehole completely since Epic Games could always exercise the nuclear option should this lawsuit be in breach of the licensing contract and terms of use agreement; where that nuclear option is to terminate ALL of Bluehole’s rights to use the Unreal Engine. And that aspect isn’t a pretty one because that would effectively mean the end to all of those games (and a huge amount of legal troubles for Bluehole in general given their existing publishing contracts).
PUBG Corp sounds like it is a separate company but it is still a subsidiary of Bluehole (it was just renamed from Bluehole Ginno). It maintains its own corporate structure (in order to manage the now successful PUBG franchise) but it is still tied to Bluehole. Even their corporate logo spells out that relationship.
