PUBG developer sues Apple over alleged rip-offs being sold in the App Store

In the US, PUBG’s developer sued the maker of another popular battle royale game, Free Fire. Not only that but Krafton has also named Apple and Google in the lawsuit, alleging that Apple and Google have refused to stop selling rip-off versions of its games.

According to Reuters, “Krafton Inc. alleged Monday in a Los Angeles federal court complaint that Garena Online’s ‘Free Fire’ games copy several copyrighted aspects of PUBG: Battlegrounds, including its game structure and in-game items, equipment, and locations.”

According to Krafton, Apple and Google have distributed hundreds of millions of copies of the Free Fire games. The complaint says Garena generated more than $100 million in revenue from Free Fire sales in the U.S. in the first three months of 2021.

PUBG’s developer also wants Apple to remove another infringing game called “Free Fire Max.” In the lawsuit, Krafton said it asked Garena, Apple, and Google in December to stop selling Free Fire games, which didn’t occur. PUBG’s developer also asked the court “to block sales of the Free Fire games in addition to requesting damages that include the companies’ profits from Free Fire sale.”

This is not the first time that PUBG developers have filed a lawsuit against a competing battle royale game. In 2018, they also sued Fortnite to “protect copyright,” as reported by the Korea Times.

Although Apple didn’t take action against Free Fire, this week, the company removed some of the now-sensational Wordle rip-offs from the App Store. Wordle lets players get one chance per day to guess a five-letter word. Although it’s only available as a mobile website, it didn’t take long for rip-offs of the game to hit the App Store, but, in this case, Apple was quick to remove them all.

Do you think Apple and Google should remove Free Fire from their stores or has PUBG gone too far? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.