Chinese World of Tanks clone so similar it allegedly copies even historical inaccuracies and fictional tanks
Wargaming rumbles into court.
Wargaming has filed a lawsuit against an alleged World of Tanks copycat that it labelled "disturbingly similar" and claimed featured both historical inaccuracies and fictional tanks dreamt up specifically for the World of Tanks game.
Project Tank - AKA Tank Grounds War and Ground War Tanks - is the work of Chinese companies Changyou and Gamease.
Wargaming's lawsuit for copyright infringement called Project Tank "an unoriginal and disturbingly similar game directly based on the World of Tanks", according to Polygon, which was able to access the case. Project Tank "copied the plot, theme, dialogue, mood, setting, pace, and character of World of Tanks, in addition to copying specific features, items, tanks, and artwork.
"Copying is evidenced," it went on, "by the fact that the designers of Project Tank copied historical inaccuracies found in WOT, each of which does not affect gameplay but which was included in WOT to simplify the tank modelling and rendering process. Copying is further evidenced by the fact that the designers of Project Tank copied tanks from WOT that never existed in real life, and which included features original to WOT."
Wargaming seeks damages and an injunction against further acts of copyright infringement.
The Project Tank team hasn't been silent in the matter, though, and wrote in a statement online that it had been "continuously sabotaged by Wargaming", and felt "truly shocked and bullied".
Project Tank apparently "never intended to pose a threat or compete at any platform with World of Tanks", and the team found it surprising that this small-scale project - "a closed beta-phase browser game aiming to provide a cheaper, fairer, and more accessible war game to players around the world" - should even register on Wargaming's radar.