Started as a comics editor

Chapter 208 Wait and see
"..."

seriously.

The point Li Xue made was actually not uncommon in Tang Yao's previous life.

When mobile games first emerged, many reskinned games did this: by replicating the core gameplay and overall story structure, they differentiated themselves only in terms of appearance, text, and other expressive aspects. This allowed them to avoid legal risks while essentially stealing the core ideas of the original game.

The most famous example.

Around 2014, Tencent went all out to develop mobile games, and then produced a bunch of games like Quanmin and Tiantian.

Also, there are Nexon's games, such as Bubble Fighter and KartRider.

Ironically, Nexon pioneered the practice of charging for in-game items in casual games.

In the end, it was Tencent, the imitator, that took it to a whole new level, with a dazzling array of pay-to-win schemes including skins, props, and memberships.

The final outcome was, in a way, quite comical.

At Shanda's urging, Nexon actually sued Tencent for plagiarism, but ran into a brick wall – Nanshan Pizza Hut. In the end, the court ruled that the interfaces and gameplay were similar, but the code was different, so it did not fall within the scope of copyright protection and was not considered infringement.

Then something even more humorous happened.

By suing Tencent, Nexon successfully attracted the attention of Nintendo, the company with the strongest legal department in the Eastern Hemisphere...

Nintendo has filed a lawsuit against Nexon, claiming that KartRider plagiarized Mario Kart...

Okay.

They've directly offended the very originator of gameplay.

Nexon suffered a double loss, with its market share in China shrinking further, and it also had to pay compensation and apologize to Nintendo, making it furious.

but.

soon.

Nexon finally got its revenge.

In 2008, when Dungeon Fighter Online was released, Tencent had already acquired the distribution rights for Dungeon Fighter Online.

However, Nexon was cunning. Knowing that Tencent had secured the distribution rights, it immediately borrowed money to buy the developer behind DNF, turning the two from competitors into business partners.

then.

Every year, Tencent pays NEXON $8.9 million for the distribution rights to "DNF"... and the revenue sharing fee for just one year is far higher than the price NEXON paid to acquire the developer back then.

This became the thing Tencent regretted most at the time.

It's like someone who hunts geese all day long, only to have their eyes pecked by the geese...

Also.

Tencent's karma has finally caught up with them... As Tencent gradually became the top game company in China, it became the one whose games were copied.

Moreover, the tricks used are the same, the most famous example being Magic Rush: Heroes.

At that time, Tencent had not yet entered the Southeast Asian market.

The creators of this game took a different approach, directly going all-in on these regions with their imitations. By the time Tencent realized what was happening and tried to compete with Honor of Kings, the other games had already established a firm foothold...

Feng Shui turns.

Tencent has begun to take legal action.

It seems the maintenance wasn't successful in the end.

It's easy to infringe on someone's rights, but difficult to protect them; that's just how things are in this world.

In fact, this is true not only in the domestic market but also in the overseas game market. For example, the game "Fantasy Beast Palu," which was quite famous before Tang Yao's transmigration, has been embroiled in controversy since it became popular. It is believed that its art design and character settings are almost entirely copied from Pokémon.

This is nothing new.

Before Tang Yao traveled through time, she had lived through the 1990s.

Current laws do not explicitly define the so-called rules of the game.

As long as this remains unchanged.

The trend of plagiarism in the gaming industry will continue.

Putting aside everything else, the relationship between League of Legends and DOTA, and between the latter and Chenghai 3C, is a long and complicated one.

Because there's really no other way.

For example, in games like Dota, the gameplay of five people in a team pushing towers and destroying the crystal to win is 100% impossible to obtain copyright protection because there are too many similar games, and no one can prove that they are the pioneer. This gameplay will never belong to any individual or company.

That's a fair assessment. In Tang Yao's previous life, as the gaming industry developed, almost every game available on the market bore the imprint of other games to varying degrees.

When making fighting games, you can't avoid Street Fighter; when making MMORPGs, you can't avoid World of Warcraft; and Mario Kart is the ancestor of all item racing games.

Isn't the game Tang Yao is playing in this world also the game from the previous world?

This isn't an attempt to whitewash the situation; rather, games are a comprehensive art form. A complete game requires a combination of numerous elements, from visuals and music to gameplay and storyline.

However, it is very difficult to define the boundaries between plagiarism and reference through law.

This has led to the fact that imitation has become a low-risk, high-return endeavor, which many manufacturers are willing to do.

Of course, as legal awareness increases, players' tolerance for piracy, knockoffs, and plagiarism will only decrease.

The space for poorly made reskinned games to survive will become increasingly smaller.

In the gaming market, the reputation of game developers is becoming increasingly important, which to some extent curbs the phenomenon of developers blindly copying others, and can be considered a self-purifying mechanism of the market.

However, all of this takes time, and it cannot be changed by one or two people.

This requires manufacturers to be self-aware, and it also requires players to resolutely resist games that are obviously plagiarized, so that those poorly made reskinned games have no room to survive.

Therefore, Tang Yao didn't care about this at all. For example, "Dark Night's Decree" was a complete replica of FGO.

just.

She never expected it.

To think someone would use this to threaten... Avalon.

No.

Do you really think you've never eaten or seen anything like this before?
In her past life, she was the lead artist of a trashy mobile game.

Moreover, it's a copy of FGO?

No, can't you see how many competitors this game has ruined?
"..."

Think of this.

Tang Yao couldn't help but shake her head with a smile.

"Tang Yao..."

the other side.

Li Xue was unaware of Tang Yao's thoughts. Seeing Tang Yao's seemingly amused expression, she hesitated before asking, "Do you want to cooperate with them?"

Unlike Tang Yao, she didn't have experience from a previous life.

to be frank.

It would be a lie to say she wasn't worried.

It's the second largest internet company in China, and its size ranks among the top in private enterprises.

Such a large company deliberately used those disgusting tactics to suppress Avalon.

Can Avalon really hold on?

But I'll say yes.

Li Xue was unwilling to give up.

She didn't care about her own shares, but she didn't want Tang Yao to be constrained in her actions.

Upon hearing this, Tang Yao shook her head immediately: "I don't want to. Let them get lost."

"..."

Hearing this, Li Xue was somewhat surprised: "Aren't you worried?"

"If it were when the game had just been released for public testing, I might still be worried."

Tang Yao said with a smile, "But now? To be honest, I'm not worried at all... Let me tell you the truth, Miss Li, FGO is actually a heretic among gacha games. They imitated this game, but their starting point was wrong. They completely imitated it, so now, however big a fall 'Dark Night's Decree' takes, that's how big a fall they will take... Also, FGO will be updating with the 1.6 story this summer."

I really want to see their expressions then.

Not to mention... Avalon doesn't just have one game now, don't forget there's also "Avalon" (or "Avalon").

Soon, a new game genre will be released. I want to see if they can copy it faster, or if we can make money faster!

(End of this chapter)