PUBG sues Epic, claiming Fortnite copied PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds

A long-simmering dispute between Fortnite developer Epic Games and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds developer PUBG Corp. is moving to the next stage, as PUBG has taken legal action against Epic in South Korea. The Korea Times reports that PUBG Corp. quietly filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Epic Games Korea earlier this year, and it asked the Seoul Central District Court for an injunction against Epic Games Korea on Friday.

The court drama involves two of the three best-known “battle royale” games, a shooter-survival subgenre that has exploded in popularity over the last year. Each of the games drops 100 players onto a map with scattered weapons and equipment, awarding victory to the last person standing. Building on Daybreak’s King of the Hill mode in H1Z1, PUBG quickly saw its PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds surge in popularity, after which Fortnite developer Epic brought similar concepts into its Battle Royale mode.