BGMI maker Krafton sues Garena, says Free Fire is blatant copy of PUBG

Krafton has also sued Apple and Google because they distribute Free Fire and Free Fire Max via their app stores and earn revenue on each in-app purchase for the two games.

Maker of Battlegrounds Mobile India, PUBG: New State, and PUBG, Krafton filed a lawsuit on Monday and it dragged big names to the court. In the lawsuit, the developer has accused Garena of copying PUBG: Battlegrounds - the PC version of PUBG Mobile. The lawsuit also mentions Apple and Google for distributing Garena’s games through their app stores. And for Google, the accusations go beyond Free Fire’s Play Store listing, with Krafton accusing Google of hosting YouTube videos that show gameplay of Garena’s games, many posts related to them, and a feature-length Chinese movie that Krafton noted is a blatant dramatisation of Battlegrounds.

Garena has two major games - Free Fire and Free Fire Max, and Krafton is after them for being “blatant” copies of Battlegrounds. Both games are available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, along with in-app purchases. Krafton said Garena has earned “hundreds of millions of dollars” from sales made of the two games and, since these payments were made using Apple’s and Google’s systems, the two companies earned “a substantial amount of revenue from their distribution of Free Fire”. Krafton is referring to the 30 per cent commission both Apple and Google charged on each in-app purchase.