Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Plagiarism Accused Game Cancelled Days After Launch

A Korean mobile game titled Gwisal-ui Geom has been accused by fans in Japan as having been plagiarizing materials from Koyoharu Gotoge’s Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. After launching on April 24th, the mobile game has announced that it will be ending services for the game on April 29th — days after its launch. As reported by Anime News Network, the game has been accused of plagiarising materials from the Demon Slayer franchise by fans in Japan and Korea due to the physical and narrative references to Tanjiro Kamado.

As noted in the report, not only does Gwisal-ui Geom’s main character bear a striking resemblance to Tanjiro Kamado, but its main character was also set out on a journey after his family were killed by demons. The announcement of the game’s shut down does not directly reference the accusations, but instead is facing “various problems.”

According to the report from ANN, developer for the game Tennine denied the accusations earlier in development noting that “people only think that the two properties are similar because of the Japanese-style clothing and the basic premise of fighting demons.” But they did pause in-game purchases and apologized for the staff’s “immaturity” and for “causing discomfort to others” when confirmed the service was ending.

According to Game Meca, the official cafe for the game chased out its customers who brought up the accusations as well and the gameplay for it even seems to plagiarise a completely different game entirely. This goes to show just how popular Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba has become in the last few months, and perhaps it was brought on by the fact that fans are aching for a playable version of this franchise?

Good thing there is one planned in the future as Demon Slayer will be branching out with both a new console game for the PlayStation 4 and a mobile outing all of its own. Popularity has its ups and downs, and unfortunately one of those downs is some pretenders trying to capitalize on that popularity (if the game is indeed plagiarising the franchise).

Do you think this mobile game plagiarized materials from Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba? Are you hoping the franchise gets its own official mobile game someday? Are you looking forward to the new Demon Slayer console game? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or talk to me directly about all things anime and other cool things @Valdezology on Twitter!

via Anime News Network