Warner Bros surprised by Bethesda's “baseless accusation” in Westworld lawsuit

Warner Bros has spoken out on the legal battle it now faces against Bethesda Softworks over its recently released Westworld mobile game.

News of the case emerged last week, with Bethesda suing both Warner Bros and the Westworld game's developer Behaviour Interactive, claiming the two firms re-used the source code from Fallout Shelter - the mobile spin-off created by Behaviour.

Warner Bros disputes this, insisting the Westworld title - while built around a similar concept to Fallout Shelter - is nonetheless a completely new title, featuring no code from Behaviour's previous Bethesda project.

In a statement to GamesIndustry.biz, the publisher said: "As one of the world's leading creators of intellectual property, including the ground-breaking television series Westworld, Warner Bros. has a deep respect for intellectual property rights. As such, the assertions by Bethesda Softworks that Warner's Westworld mobile game improperly used source code from Bethesda's Fallout Shelter are as surprising as they are unsubstantiated.

"Warner Bros. has been assured by the game developer, Behaviour Interactive, that Bethesda's allegations are untrue and that none of Bethesda's code was used in the Westworld game. Moreover, contrary to Bethesda's baseless accusation, Warner Bros. at no time 'induced' Behaviour to use the Fallout Shelter code in Westworld."

Fallout Shelter was first released for mobile devices in 2015, but continues to be a popular title for Bethesda. At E3 2018 earlier this month, the publisher announced the management game would also be ported to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4.

This is being handled by Bethesda's own mobile studio - based in Montreal, same as Behaviour - which took over live ops and further development on the game back in December 2015.

Bethesda is calling for the Westworld game to be scrapped and all current versions pulled from distribution, as well as actual and punitive damages.