Riot Games has sued the Shanghai-based developer of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang for plagiarizing Wild Rift, the mobile version of League of Legends.
Since releasing the mobile version of the popular MOBA in 2021, Riot has doubled down on the fight against copycat mobile games. On Monday, May 9, developer Moonton Games filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Riot used evidence such as assets and communications in marketing campaigns, as well as multiple splash art for costumes-appearances similar to champions in League of Legends and Wild Rift games to support their claims in the lawsuit. The documents also included responses from community centers highlighting the similarity between the games.
This is the second time Riot has sued Moonton. A 2017 suit was dismissed by the Central District Court of California due to a jurisdictional issue. Riot's parent company, Tencent, later sued the developer's CEO for non-compete agreement violations in China, and in 2018, Riot Games received $2,9 million in settlement.
That skirmish could have ended there, but following the release of Wild Rift in 2021, Moonton has reportedly issued exclusivity agreements to benefit organizations that have agreed to compete on MLBB instead of Wild Rift.
MLBB became available on Android and iOS in 2016. The game is very similar to the formula of League of Legends, but on the mobile platform. It has similar mechanics, progression system, and marketing campaigns surrounding cosmetics.
Since its launch, MBLL has quickly become a success, generating over $600 million in revenue. And even though Wild Rift was launched last year, it still counts over 80 million monthly users on average, according to Active Player. As for esports, it was selected as an official event at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games and offered a prize pool of $800.000 at the most recent World Championships.
Kaynak
It was a great game, I'm not going anymore...
I've played both. Looks like Riot is right 😀
Aaah aah, old days…
I almost cried! :')