Blizzard Entertainment filed a lawsuit against Sina Games over free-to-play Glorious Saga, which is a blatant rip-off of the long-running Warcraft franchise.
In the lawsuit, filed August 16 in a California court, Blizzard alleges that Glorious Saga is “almost entirely copied from the Warcraft games and related products,” according to Polygon. The developer was seeking a court order to take down the game, in addition to maximum damages for the “serious and irreparable harm to Blizzard and its business” to the tune of $150,000 for each infringement.
The lawsuit claims that Sina Games has “profited handsomely” from Glorious Saga, as the copyright infringement on Warcraft assets has attracted thousands of players to the the game.
Blizzard claims that several projects by Sina Games, a subsidiary of Chinese tech company Sina Corp., are based on popular franchises. In addition to Warcraft, the company has also allegedly ripped off Japanese anime franchises Yu-Gi-Oh and Naruto.
The lawsuit contains examples of how Glorious Saga copied Warcraft, starting with the use of character names such as Jaina Proudmoore, Gul’dan, and Malfurion. Sina Games also copied creatures, vehicle, weapons, and sound effects. Even the mobile icon of Glorious Saga, which depicted a human and an orc-like creature menacingly facing each other, recreates the expansion cover for World of Warcraft: Battle of Azeroth, which is itself a throwback to Warcraft: Orcs & Humans.
On August 29, a post on the Facebook page of Glorious Saga said that the game is being shut down and its servers closed. Polygon was still able to download the game under the name Glorious World from the Google Play Store, but multiple errors popped up upon trying to launch it.
The Facebook post did not mention the lawsuit from Blizzard, but the game’s shutdown was likely made in connection with the legal action.
The report on the lawsuit against Glorious Saga comes as Blizzard launched World of Warcraft Classic, which brings players back to 2006. There is no cost to play World of Warcraft Classic, as long as players have an active subscription to the MMO.
World of Warcraft Classic takes place before the MMO’s first expansion, The Burning Crusade, when combat was slower and more dangerous, movement was slower, and quests were more straightforward.
