Riot Games, the developer behind MOBA League of Legends, is suing ByteDance’s Shanghai Moonton Technology Co. LTD, the developer behind MOBA Mobile Legends for copyright.
The lawsuit, which was filed by Riot’s parent company Tencent, reads: “This action seeks to stop Moonton from continuing its deliberate and sustained campaign to free ride on Riot’s highly valuable rights in the mobile video game League of Legends: Wild Rift and related content.” The company goes on to call Moonton’s strategy “blatant copying”.
The lawsuit continues, “Over the years, as Riot updated its video game, Moonton would copy it. When Riot updated the game’s promotional materials, Moonton copied them. And when Riot released a new trailer, Moonton copied it. This is a critical issue for Riot.
“Moonton has used its copyist tactics to create and market its mobile video game, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, which competes with Wild Rift using Riot’s own extensive, expressive content in Wild Rift itself as well as its trailers, promotional materials, and other content.”
Within the filed lawsuit, Tencent shared numerous shots comparing the two games’ logos, characters and more. And there is really no denying it, the two games are remarkably similar. So, let’s dive on in (Please note, all images are courtesy of Riot and Tencent).
Below are the logos from the two games. The first League of Legends logo was changed in 2019 to a new, gold based and strongly fonted on. Just over a year later, Moonton then did the same, with Tencent highlighting the Mobile Legends’ “layout, promintent use of the word ‘Legends’ and gold font” as being basically the same as the new LOL logo.
Now onto the characters. Below we can see Riot’s original champion, Ahri, in both Wild Rift (2020) and League of Legends (2018). This character design is similar to the Moonton’s artwork for the hero Guinevere’s ‘Psion of Tomorrow’ skin that arrived only last month. In addition to looking alike, Tencent also claims these characters perform in a very similar way.
Meanwhile, here is Riot’s original League of Legends champion, Zac, circa 2013, next to Moonton’s 2021 hero Gloo. Tencent states, “Both feature the same magenta, purple, and black color scheme, distinctive clawed hands, and similar body shapes. The two characters also share similar walks, attacks, attributes, and abilities in the games.”
Finally, just look at this “Stargazer” weaponry from both games…
Tencent has shared several more comparisons such as the above within the lawsuit and is seeking retribution from Moonton for the financial damages, fees, costs it sustains, and as well any gains, profits, and advantages obtained by Moonton in the United States as a result of its acts of infringement.
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