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PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds dev drops lawsuit against Fortnite

No word on whether a settlement has been reached, but PUBG Crop has withdrawn from the legal battle

The dispute between the two leading Battle Royale games seems to be over.

Bloomberg reports that PUBG Corp, the Bluehole subsidiary responsible for PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, has dropped its legal action against Epic Games after claiming the latter plagiarised its flagship game to develop Fortnite.

The lawsuit was filed in the Seoul Central District Court earlier this year, but the PUBG team has been openly complaining about the success of Fortnite Battle Royale since the mode went free-to-play last September.

In addition to calling out the similarities between the two games in terms of structure, Bluehole also suggested that Epic Games used some of the collaborations on Unreal Engine (which powers PUBG) to enhance Fortnite as well.

And yet PUBG Corp has sent a letter of withdrawal to Epic's attorneys and the case has now been closed. Bloomberg claims this has been confirmed by PUBG, its own legal representatives and the South Korean court system's websites.

Thus far, there is no word on why PUBG has withdrawn from the case, nor is there indication on whether a settlement between the two has been reached.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has been a worldwide phenomenon since it entered Early Access in March 2017, and has now sold more than 50 million copies across Xbox and PC.

Meanwhile, Fornite launches several months after but it was the addition of its free-to-play Battle Royale mode that has driven the game's success, to the stage where it is now making $300 million per month.

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James Batchelor

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James Batchelor is Editor-in-Chief at GamesIndustry.biz. He has been a B2B journalist since 2006, and an author since he knew what one was

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