Riot Games files case against NetEase over VALORANT clone

Riot Games, developer-publisher of first-person shooter VALORANT, filed a case against Hyper Front developers NetEase for allegedly cloning their game.

The 162-page claim filed by Riot to UK courts outlined everything that Hyper Front allegedly infringed from them, including but not limited to character designs, abilities, and weapon stats.

The similarities begin in the games’ type and design. The comparison outlined the following similarities, like being set in a near future sci-fi universe with “some conceptual similarities regarding an accident/anomaly in each universe,” and a similar artstyle featuring a mix between realism and cel-shading.

They then went on to go on about the similar game modes. “Hyper Front has a highly similar combination of bomb defusal, deathmatch, and training game modes to VALORANT,” reads the claim. It describes Hyper Front’s “Quick SND” best-of-7 game mode, where players start each round with the same random weapon and five random orbs are dropped around the map and can be claimed for buffs. It seems like this was too similar to VALORANT’s “Spike Rush” for Riot’s liking. Hyper Front’s Deathmatch game mode is also almost identical to VALORANT’s, including the small green orb that drops upon kill which gives the player full health, armor, and ammunition upon collection. The only differences between the two was that Hyper Front’s deathmatch only has 10 players to VALORANT’s 12, and that the former only needs to reach 30 kills to win instead of 40.

via Riot’s filed claim vs NetEase

The similarities continued to game design, comparing both games classes (VALORANT’s Duelist, Controller, Sentinels to Hyper Front’s Brawlers, Tacticians, Guardians, to name a few), even the alleged copied character design abilities – complete with screenshots of each and every one.

via Riot’s filed claim vs NetEase

Four of Hyper Front’s five maps are based in the same settings as VALORANT’s map, according to the claim. Riot also pulled up images of identical skins:

via Riot’s filed claim vs NetEase

Even the gun buddies weren’t spared.

via Riot’s filed claim vs NetEase

VALORANT’s gameplay UI was also allegedly infringed, especially the circular symbol displayed per-kill.

via Riot’s filed claim vs NetEase

After citing more similarities, such as the aiming, the translucent walls on spawn, and the bomb site crates, Riot pulled up the spreadsheet to show the similar gun stats.

via Riot’s filed claim vs NetEase

These may not exactly be different, but the claim stated that these changes are “often minimal and will have little / no actual impact on gameplay.” Players in both games only have 150 units of effective health, so VALORANT’s Vandal dealing 160 damage on headshot and Hyper Front’s AK dealing 155 damage does not impact gameplay at all.

Riot Games is planning to bring this case to other courts apart from the UK, and have cited that they will also file it in Germany, Brazil, and Singapore, according to a report by Polygon.

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