Epic Games Investigates Plagiarism Concerns Involving 'Fortnite' Skin (Update)

Update: PC Gamer noted that a DeviantArt user by the name of Pyro-Zombie, among others, claim that [...]

By Tanner Dedmon

Update: PC Gamer noted that a DeviantArt user by the name of Pyro-Zombie, among others, claim that the plagiarism accusations are false. Cached pages show that the artist's work was swapped out recently to instead show the new artwork that resembled Epic Games' Fortnite. More on the situation can be found through Pyro-Zombie's blog post.

Original Story: Epic Games is investigating concerns of plagiarism surrounding a Fortnite skin which was released in November 2018. The Taro outfit made its appearance in Fortnite's item shop that month and could be purchased for 1,500 V-Bucks, but conversations that have taken place on social media recently brought attention to the fact that the skin bears a striking resemblance to artwork shared on DeviantArt prior to the skin's release.

The original post that brought attention to the situation came from Facebook with tweets like the ones below bringing attention to the matter. In the original post, the creator of the DeviantArt artwork seen here shared side-by-side images of the Taro skin next to their creation. The artwork was shared on DeviantArt months prior to the date that the Fortnite skin was made available, though there are similar drawings from the artist that date back even further.

Fortnite's skin and the artist's creation do bear striking resemblances to each other, the hair, shoulderpads, and horns being the most obvious similarities. According to the artist in question who's brought attention to the situation, they didn't create the artwork for Fortnite. A rough translation of their original Facebook post says the character is one of thousands that they've made and they now can't create similar drawings without it being assumed that they're copying Fortnite's Taro skin.

VG24/7 reached out to Epic Games about the plagiarism concerns after covering the situation and received a response from the Fortnite developer that said investigations are underway.

"We take these claims seriously and are in the process of investigating them," the response received from Epic Games said.

Fortnite and Epic Games have faced accusations of copying others' works before, the most notable example being the influx of lawsuits from individuals who said the developer had copied their dance moves to create in-game emotes.

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