Warner Bros. Entertainment and Behaviour Interactive recently launched the mobileWestworldgame, a cartoony take on the HBO series that puts you in the role of a new employee at the park. It shares some design similarities to Bethesda’sFallout Shelter, and this has reportedly become the subject of a lawsuit.
According to TMZ, Bethesda is suing both Warner Bros. and Behaviour Interactive, claiming that the latter company “stole its designs, artwork, and codes” for use inWestworld.Bethesdaworked with Behaviourback in 2014 on the development ofFallout Shelter, which the company created in partnership with Bethesda Game Studios.
As alleged proof of theft, Bethesda pointed to bugs appearing inWestworldthat also appeared in early versions ofFallout Shelter, though the report doesn’t specify which bugs appear in both games.
TheWestworldgame allows you to control nearly every major aspect of the park, including maintenance in an underground area that looks quite similar to the different compartments inFallout Shelter. The hosts you create can be fully customizable and sent out to “satisfy desires” for human guests, which isn’t something we see in Bethesda’s game.
The issue of stolen code is far more serious than mere gameplay or design similarities, however, and Bethesda parent company Zenimax is no stranger to litigation. The company wasawarded $500 millionin 2017 in a lawsuit against Oculus regarding virtual reality and intellectual property. Former Zenimax employee and Id Software co-founder John Carmack had recently left the company to join Oculus as its chief technology officer.
Warner Bros. is no stranger to accusations, either.Assassin’s Creed IIdeveloper Charles Randall had claimedMiddle-earth: Shadow of Mordorlifted code and assets from Ubisoft’s game, which developer Monolith Productionsoutright denied.
In any case, we’re hoping theWestworldtelevision show can begin to make a little more sense, as our interest is starting to wane due to its many seemingly unconnected narrative threads and lack of forward movement. TheWestworldmobile game is available now on iOS and Android, andFallout Shelteris available on the aforementioned platforms as well as Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, and Nintendo Switch. If you have an Amazon Alexa device, you can use it to playWestworld: The Maze, as well.
