For constructing what it claims to be a Valorant clone, Chinese corporation NetEase is the target of a lawsuit brought by Riot Games.

According to Polygon, Riot claims that NetEase’s five-versus-five free-to-play mobile shooter Hyper Front “extensively resembles” its own shooter and provides “the same gaming experience, look, and feel as Valorant but on a mobile device.”

Riot contends that NetEase violated the copyrights of Valorant by publishing Hyper Front in several countries, including the United Kingdom.

The Windows PC version of Valorant debuted in 2020, while a mobile version is now in development. In contrast, Hyper Front was released in 2022 for mobile operating systems such as iOS and Android.

Riot is suing NetEase in a number of nations, including the UK, Germany, Brazil, and Singapore. Although the claims made in each case vary slightly, Riot’s contention that Hyper Front is effectively a copy of Valorant is the same in all of them.

Riot claims that Hyper Front has imitated numerous aspects of Valorant’s design, including game modes, hero traits, map designs, weapon designs (such as magazine capacities, fire rates, and damage output), weapon skins, sound effects, and visual components such as static graphics, in the UK filing, for instance.

In an interview with Polygon, Riot Games attorney Dan Nabel said that Hyper Front “mirrored” all of the company’s creative decisions.

Nabel continued by stating that Riot is suing NetEase in several nations because “copyright is territorial,” noting that local regulations vary from country to country. We don’t want to depend on one specific market to find a solution to this problem, Nabel said. “We are a worldwide publisher, just like NetEase. We want people to understand how seriously we take this issue.”

In addition to an investigation to establish if NetEase should be required to pay damages, Riot is requesting an injunction to prevent the Chinese business from violating the copyrights of Valorant, effectively shutting down the Hyper Front. On Scribd, you may read the lawsuit in its entirety.