For a few months there, things were looking messy between Bethesda and developer Behaviour Interactive.
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Last year, the publisher accused that team of stealing assets from its hit mobile game Fallout Shelter for its own release, Westworld, based on the hit HBO series of the same name. But now it appears that things have been settled between the two.
In a statement released just recently, it noted, “Bethesda Softworks and Behaviour Interactive jointly announced today that the parties have amicably resolved the lawsuit Bethesda brought against Behaviour and others related to the Fallout Shelter and Westworld mobile games.”
No further information was provided in the news release, such as if any sort of settlement was paid, nor any additional comments from the parties. But it appears that the legal scuffle appears to be over.
For a while there, though, it was fierce. Back when the lawsuit was filed in June, Bethesda accused Behaviour of taking designs, codes and artwork from Fallout Shelter for use in Westworld, following its work on the project back in 2014. In the midst of said suit, Bethesda was seeking to get the game shut down, as well as getting back some of the profits for damages.
Warner Bros., the publishers of the Westworld game, responded less than a week later, stating that Bethesda’s claims were “baseless” and the assets were in not fact stolen.
A rep noted at the time, “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.”
Currently, Westworld is still available for download on the Apple App Store and Google Play, so more than likely a financial settlement was reached that would allow WB Games to continue offering the game. Nothing’s been confirmed, however.
We’ll let you know if either Bethesda or any of the other parties add any comments to the matter.
