It is quite unfortunate that Paladins released so much later than Overwatch , as according to the developers of Paladins their game came first. However, it is difficult to deny the stark similarities between the two games, as the list certainly does go on with similar characters and combat abilities. The developers have made a lengthy case for themselves, and barely manage to not accuse Blizzard of stealing their IP in turn. I don’t know what the real story is and frankly, we’ll never know. The copyright and plagiarism laws of the video game industry are practically non-existent. In the state it is now, it would be quite easy to make a true rip-off of Overwatch .
Whether Paladins is a rip-off or an enormous coincidence, Overwatch was released first and there are no laws preventing this kind of thievery of intellectual property (IP). For example, during a Texas case between DaVinci and Ziko games over the game Legend of the Three Kingdoms the court ruled that, “in no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work” ( The Copyright Act ). Or see the case of a Chinese rip-off of Overwatch , which the developer doesn’t bother denying and is still happily successful. Legend of Titan lives on because of China’s copyright law, which is almost exactly like the ruling in Texas.
So really, you have nothing to fear with whatever rip-off you want to make. The trick, it seems, is to simply not make a carbon copy – just slightly off. Of course, it is also important to be aware of any problems you might run into. The film industry, for example, has been wrestling with children’s movie knock-offs for centuries. Since the film industry is a bit older, let’s see how they’ve handled their copyright issues. These knock-offs are aptly termed “mockbusters” and are generally based on popular animated films. They use cleverly re-worded titles to piggyback off the marketing success of it’s original, like Kiara the Brave (Pixar’s Brave ), or Puss in Boots: A Furry Tale (Dreamwork’s Puss in Boots ). As Amy Nicholson (the editor of Boxoffice) stated, you can’t actually trademark a noun (though some have tried). On the side of video games, some titles are quite unique so it might be best to pick a less obvious title for your rip-off.
Another major problem a rip-off might run into is being accused of false advertising. Funnily enough, until 2012, mockbusters have gotten away with these re-worded titles to the point where even actors of both movies have gotten confused as to which movie they were starring in. Nonetheless, because mockbusters attempt this piggybacking in the first place, some film studios have attempted to sue them for fooling customers into purchasing the wrong movie. Especially when the jacket cover and title are so similar, it’s easy to understand where the original studio is coming from.
Clearly video games, just as movies have, need to sort out how IP works under copyright and plagiarism laws. Until then however, not only is Paladins a rip-off of Overwatch (or maybe the other way around), it’s a good one. In fact, I would go so far as to say this is a way less wealthy gamers can play a game for cheap. Paladins is similar enough and if it does Overwatch any justice, the gameplay will be just as fun. So here’s to rip-offs and making a decent profit by confusing people.