Bethesda files lawsuit over Westworld mobile game

The news from the legal world is that Bethesda has started a lawsuit against Behaviour Interactive and Warner Bros. Entertainment, citing breach of contract, copyright infringement, unfair competition, and misappropriation of trade secrets. 

After the massive success of Fallout Shelter, it’s no surprise that clones are coming out of the woodwork, with not many bigger than one based on the hit Westworld franchise. Westworld Mobile, much like Fallout Shelter, has you building an underground bunk… I mean… theme park, with you pairing guests with hosts, and making all their wildest dreams and fantasies come true, but this is where the situation gets tricky. Both of these games have been developed by Behaviour Interactive, and Bethesda alleges that they have used the code from Fallout Shelter, which according to the lawsuit, is owned fully by Bethesda. The most interesting part of this whole procedure is the evidence that Bethesda is claiming.

The similarities are numerous, in both gameplay and design, but that on its own a lawsuit does not make. In the most Bethesda thing to ever happen, they are claiming the code has to be the same because there are the same bugs in the game. Section 8 of the document states:

“This software ‘bug’ appears when a player starts up the demonstration version of the Westworld game. Specifically, the view is out-of-focus and the scene that appears is far to the right and below the targeted landscape image. It is as if a camera capturing the scene had been inadvertently pointed to the lower right foreground and then slowly refocuses on the central image. The identical problem appeared in initial versions of FALLOUT SHELTER but was addressed before FALLOUT SHELTER was released to the public”. I have never agreed with a reddit comment so much before in my life.

Reading over the legalese of the document, and with my limited knowledge of IP law, it would seem Bethesda may have them dead to rights, with a jury trial being ordered by Bethesda. If you want to go over the juicy details yourself, you can find the full text of the complaint here.