Blizzard wins Overwatch copyright lawsuit in China

Blizzard and Chinese partner NetEase have won a lawsuit against a company found to have copied elements of Overwatch in two of its games.

Chinese publisher 4399 Network’s mobile game Clash of Fighters and online title Gunplay Battlefront were both found to have infringed on copyrights for Blizzard’s team-based shooter.

According to a Shine report, the Pudong New Area People’s Court ruled on Wednesday that the titles in question copied elements of Overwatch including character design, gameplay and maps.

4399 Network had argued that Blizzard didn’t own the elements it claimed rights over as they were also present in other previous games. And while there might be similarities between its games and Blizzard’s, 4399 Network claimed its products were original developments.

The court awarded Blizzard and NetEase 4 million yuan ($569,000).

In August, Blizzard sued Chinese company Sina Games for alleged infringement of its intellectual property, claiming PC and mobile game Glorious Saga was a “blatant Warcraft knock-off”.

Blizzard announced Overwatch 2 at BlizzCon 2019 earlier this month. Original Overwatch players will be able to play on all the same maps as Overwatch 2 players, with progression and cosmetics carrying over to the sequel.

Overwatch 2 director Jeff Kaplan has said it was “very challenging” to convince Activision Blizzard management to approve giving owners of the original game sequel content for free.

He’s also suggested the Overwatch 2 release date could be more than a year away.