The second season of Westworld has just ended but the drama clearly hasn’t. Warner Bros has spoken out against the allegations of game developer/publisher Bethesda, which claims that Warner Bros’ recently-released Westworld mobile game used source code from the Fallout Shelter game. Both Fallout Shelter and the Westworld game was developed by the same studio, Behaviour Interactive.
Westworld Fallout Shelter Lawsuit: Warner Bros’ Official Statement
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Warner Bros issued an official statement on the issue: “As one of the world’s leading creators of intellectual property, including the ground-breaking television series Westworld, Warner Bros. has a deep respect for intellectual property rights. As such, the assertions by Bethesda Softworks that Warner’s Westworld mobile game improperly used source code from Bethesda’s Fallout Shelter are as surprising as they are unsubstantiated.”
Last week, Bethesda claimed that the Westworld mobile game shares a suspiciously similar gameplay experience with Fallout Shelter, with the “same or highly similar game design, art style, animations, features.” Both games can be categorized as management and building simulators, albeit with different concepts. Westworld allows players to build their own Westworld-like park and create “hosts” with the goal of matching them to the park’s guests. Meanwhile, players manage their own vault with inhabitants in Fallout Shelter.
Warner Bros continued: “Warner Bros. has been assured by the game developer, Behaviour Interactive, that Bethesda’s allegations are untrue and that none of Bethesda’s code was used in the Westworld game. Moreover, contrary to Bethesda’s baseless accusation, Warner Bros. at no time ‘induced’ Behaviour to use the Fallout Shelter code in Westworld.”
In the lawsuit filed by Bethesda, the company is asking for an end to the Westworld game’s distribution and damages. Fallout Shelter was originally released for Android and iOS devices in 2015, followed by the PC and Xbox One in 2016 and 2017, respectively. It was recently ported to the PS4 and Nintendo Switch as well, after being announced at the Bethesda E3 2018 press conference earlier this month.
