CHINESE gaming company NetEase Games has released a trailer of their mobile tactical shooter game, Hyper Front. The game just underwent their soft launch on the Google Play Store in Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand.
And based on the trailer, things look oddly familiar.
Just by looking at the graphics and the set of characters, it seems Hyper Front made a carbon copy of another popular tactical shooter, Riot Games’ Valorant.
Even the gameplay bare resemblances, as characters have superpower-like abilities as they tote around guns.
For instance, the first character revealed in the trailer, Thunder, has abilities that are similar to Valorant’s Neon. Eventually a female version of Omen appeared afterwards. The trailer even contained the term “duelists”, which is oftentimes associated with Riot Games’ shooter.
And it seems they weren’t hesitant to lift character designs when they unveiled Elixir, who dresses like Valorant’s Sage. Heck, she even has the resurrection ability in her arsenal.
While Valorant may look like Hyper Front's primary inspirations, they're not afraid to take a page from other notable tactical shooter games. Based on Coldcast’s freezing ability, it seemed NetEase made a clone of Overwatch’s Mei.
Though there are similarities with gameplay design of characters, there is one notable difference: NetEase opted to use anime-looking designs over the cartoonish style of both Valorant and Overwatch.
Hyper Front was initially unveiled last year, under the name Project M.
Will Riot Games encounter a new carbon copy threat in Hyper Front?
NetEase isn’t the only Chinese gaming company that could be accused of making titles inspired heavily by existing IP. Numerous organizations have spotted making their own version of the gacha sensation Genshin Impact.
And even the creators of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang were hit by a lawsuit by Riot Games, the developers of League of Legends, who accused the studio of copying LoL. This suit was later dismissed by the Central District Court of California, but Riot’s parent company, Tencent, followed up with separate lawsuit in China. They were awarded a settlement amounting to around $2.9 million.
Following the resolution of the case, Moonton's Mobile Legends has now dominated the mobile esports market.
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