It’s been a whirlwind month for Warner Bros. and Bethesda as the latter sued the former over code rights in regards to an upcoming Westworld mobile game. Claiming that Westworld infringed on Fallout Shelter both in concept and in coding, Bethesda sought to claim damages for copyright infringement, breach of contract, and misappropriation of trade secrets, along with calling for the removal of the Westworld game from distribution on mobile platforms.
Warner Bros. has just recently reached out to the folks at GamesIndustry.biz, called the claims from Bethesda as “surprising as they are unsubstantiated” in a recent interview. Taken aback by the apparent surprise of the lawsuit, Warner Bros. appears fully committed to defending their title against Bethesda’s accusations.
In their statement to GamesIndustry.biz, Warner Bros. had this to say, “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.
“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.”
Indeed, much of the lawsuit centers around Behaviour Interactive, whom Bethesda alleges illegally used source code from the development of Fallout Shelter. The most apparent piece of evidence has been illustrated by a bug in the Westworld game that was evident in earlier versions of Fallout Shelter. Additionally, Behaviour Interactive was contracted by Bethesda during Fallout Shelter‘s development, prior to their work on the Westworld title for Warner Bros., which would explain their contact with the code used in Fallout Shelter.
The lawsuit battle between Warner Bros. and Bethesda is currently underway. We will keep you posted on developments in the case as they arise.