Warner hits back at Bethesda, says ripoff claims are baseless

It appears that both of the Warner Bros are appalled at Bethesda's decision to sue them and Behaviour Interactive for blatantly ripping off their game Fallout Shelter in "their" new game Westworld, because they would never do such a thing.

The Warners are adamant that they have deep respect for intellectual property, being "one of the world's leading creators" thereof. The company therefore finds "as surprising as they are unsubstantiated."

Apparently, Warner Bros have received assurances from Behaviour Interactive, who are coincidentally developers of both Fallout Shelter and Westworld, that no code was reused at any point. Furthermore, they "at no time 'induced' Behaviour to use Fallout Shelter code in Westworld".

This is still far from over, because as much as Warner Bros have made their legal stance unassailable, i.e. they've covered their behinds, it doesn't mean it isn't true. Naturally, this part has more to do with Behaviour Interactive than them. 

Now I know what you're thinking, Behaviour Interactive's work could've easily been mistaken by Bethesda's big wigs for what they've done on Fallout Shelter, right? Wrong, because the main evidence may have come from the unlikeliest of sources.

It turns out that Westworld is plagued by a very specific bug, peculiarly identical to a bug that occurred in the pre-launch stage of Fallout Shelter. As someone so cleverly put it, to find proof of stolen intellectual property in an actual in-game bug is the most Bethesda thing you'll find.

This Fallout Shelter's, and now Westworld's, bug causes the view to go briefly out of focus, as camera seems to force focus on foreground in the lower right part of the scene. The view quickly returns to normal but apparently, Fallout Shelter's owner are certain of what they've seen.

Bethesda Fallout Shelter

Now, there's always going to be some borrowing in this industry, leaving it to designers to make sure things are creatively influenced, i.e. borrowed, not stolen. Art is about evolution, not revolution. Still, PUBG's followed by this? Maybe lawsuits aren't always bad.