Westworld Mobile Game Blatant Ripoff of Fallout Shelter

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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Bethesda is suing Warner Bros. Entertainment and the game developer that previously worked on Fallout Shelter. Seems that Westworld uses the entire underlying game engine with assets "updated" to be those of a more western-world. One thing that is tremendously incriminating in all this is Westworld suffering from some of the same early bugs as Fallout Shelter which are very specific into what exactly they bugged.


“Behaviour illegally used the same copyrighted source code from ‘Fallout Shelter’ to develop ‘Westworld,’ and copied Fallout Shelter’s game design, art, animations, gameplay features, and other elements. As a result of Behaviour and Warner Bros’ unlawful conduct, ‘Westworld’ is a blatant ripoff of ‘Fallout Shelter’ with largely superficial, cosmetic changes.
 
If a game developer does a job for a third party they can't prevent them from ever using the same code again. It would be crazy. Unless it was specifically in the contract that every line of code written for fallout shelter is property of bethesda and shall not be used for any other purpose.
 
I have now played both games. They have similarities, but are still quite different. Id be curious what evidence they have that the Westworld game is indeed using their source. The actual gameplay is more different than pubg vs fortnight.

Without proof they are using thier code, I would say this suit is dead in the water.
 
NATURE OF THE ACTION, paragraph 3:
To realize its design, Bethesda contracted with Behaviour under a work-for-hire agreement to develop FALLOUT SHELTER to Bethesda’s specifications solely for use by Bethesda, and no one else, including Behaviour or any third party. Under the agreement, all Behaviour work product of any kind, including code, designs, artwork, layouts, and other assets and materials for FALLOUT SHELTER were authored and owned by Bethesda, and no one else, including Behaviour or any third party. Under the agreement, all Behaviour work product of any kind, including code, designs, artwork, layouts, and other assets and materioals for FALLOUT SHELTER were authored and owned by Bethesda ab initio as works made for hire.

The complaint lays out contract specifics further down under BEHAVIOUR'S CONTRACT WITH BETHESDA AND BETHESDA'S RIGHTS IN FALLOUT SHELTER, paragraph 22.


firephill said:
I have now played both games. They have similarities, but are still quite different. Id be curious what evidence they have that the Westworld game is indeed using their source. The actual gameplay is more different than pubg vs fortnight.

Without proof they are using thier code, I would say this suit is dead in the water.
Click to expand...
I posted the link to the full complaint above. Bethesda was very meticulous in providing evidence with specific examples. The smoking gun as the article points out are very specific bugs that are unique to the game engine that were fixed by patches made by Bethesda after Behaviour completed their contract. It starts on page 9, paragraph 27.
 
Armenius said:
I posted the link to the full complaint above. Bethesda was very meticulous in providing evidence with specific examples. The smoking gun as the article points out are very specific bugs that are unique to the game engine that were fixed by patches made by Bethesda after Behaviour completed their contract. It starts on page 9, paragraph 27.
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting the complaint. Having a similar bug is not incontrovertible proof that this is the same source code. (seems suspicious)

"Specifically, the view is out-of-focus and the scene that appears is far to the right and below the targeted landscape image."

Wonder if they are going to compare the actual source code, and who will be doing the analysis. It should be pretty interesting to see this play through the courts.
 
Armenius said:
NATURE OF THE ACTION, paragraph 3:
To realize its design, Bethesda contracted with Behaviour under a work-for-hire agreement to develop FALLOUT SHELTER to Bethesda’s specifications solely for use by Bethesda, and no one else, including Behaviour or any third party. Under the agreement, all Behaviour work product of any kind, including code, designs, artwork, layouts, and other assets and materials for FALLOUT SHELTER were authored and owned by Bethesda, and no one else, including Behaviour or any third party. Under the agreement, all Behaviour work product of any kind, including code, designs, artwork, layouts, and other assets and materioals for FALLOUT SHELTER were authored and owned by Bethesda ab initio as works made for hire.

The complaint lays out contract specifics further down under BEHAVIOUR'S CONTRACT WITH BETHESDA AND BETHESDA'S RIGHTS IN FALLOUT SHELTER, paragraph 22.



I posted the link to the full complaint above. Bethesda was very meticulous in providing evidence with specific examples. The smoking gun as the article points out are very specific bugs that are unique to the game engine that were fixed by patches made by Bethesda after Behaviour completed their contract. It starts on page 9, paragraph 27.
Click to expand...

Looking at that complaint, its very specific to which bug happened where and when, so i think they have a pretty good case. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
 
This seems like it should depend on how both games were developed.

If, hypothetically, Behaviour started with a blank Unity engine slate and developed Fallout Shelter then took Fallout Shelter and re-skinned the result to create Westworld, they are likely boned. If they started the Westworld project with a blank Unity engine, probably clear.

Staying with the hypothetical example, having similar bugs could be due to the Unity engine rather then copying Fallout code. Can't see how Bethesda could use the contract to gain control over the base engine or prevent its use in future products.

If Behaviour did re-skin Fallout to create Westworld, they deserve to get slapped down. Contract looks fairly clear, any new code created for Fallout Shelter belongs to Bethesda.
 
I love it.

I had no intentions whatsoever of playing the Westworld game because I thought it looked just like Fallout shelter.

Now I'm going to play it BECAUSE it looks just like Fallout shelter.

Good job shifting my perspective, Bethesda. Stupid assholes.
 
Jonathonball,

I was right there with you, I had not even heard of the game till I read an article for the lawsuit. "I better go and download it now before they pull it from the play store".

Bethesda, giving you free advertising, then suing you over it

lol
 
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