Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

Bethesda reportedly sues Warner Bros. over ‘Westworld’ mobile game

Gabe Gurwin
By
Westworld Mobile: Build Your World

Warner Bros. Entertainment and Behaviour Interactive recently launched the mobile Westworld game, a cartoony take on the HBO series that puts you in the role of a new employee at the park. It shares some design similarities to Bethesda’s Fallout Shelter, and this has reportedly become the subject of a lawsuit.

Recommended Videos

According to TMZ, Bethesda is suing both Warner Bros. and Behaviour Interactive, claiming that the latter company “stole its designs, artwork, and codes” for use in Westworld. Bethesda worked with Behaviour back in 2014 on the development of Fallout Shelter, which the company created in partnership with Bethesda Game Studios.

Related

As alleged proof of theft, Bethesda pointed to bugs appearing in Westworld that also appeared in early versions of Fallout Shelter, though the report doesn’t specify which bugs appear in both games.

The Westworld game allows you to control nearly every major aspect of the park, including maintenance in an underground area that looks quite similar to the different compartments in Fallout Shelter. The hosts you create can be fully customizable and sent out to “satisfy desires” for human guests, which isn’t something we see in Bethesda’s game.

The issue of stolen code is far more serious than mere gameplay or design similarities, however, and Bethesda parent company Zenimax is no stranger to litigation. The company was awarded $500 million in 2017 in a lawsuit against Oculus regarding virtual reality and intellectual property. Former Zenimax employee and Id Software co-founder John Carmack had recently left the company to join Oculus as its chief technology officer.

Warner Bros. is no stranger to accusations, either. Assassin’s Creed II developer Charles Randall had claimed Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor lifted code and assets from Ubisoft’s game, which developer Monolith Productions outright denied.

In any case, we’re hoping the Westworld television show can begin to make a little more sense, as our interest is starting to wane due to its many seemingly unconnected narrative threads and lack of forward movement. The Westworld mobile game is available now on iOS and Android, and Fallout Shelter is available on the aforementioned platforms as well as Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, and Nintendo Switch. If you have an Amazon Alexa device, you can use it to play Westworld: The Maze, as well.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Gabe Gurwin
Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
How to turn off the DualSense controller speaker on PS5
PS5 Dual Sense controller on a dark background.

There are a lot of creative features integrated into the PlayStation 5's DualSense controller, including a small speaker that is often used to add a layer of immersion in certain games. However, if you're annoyed by this speaker's interruptions — or if you're just trying to cut down on noise while folks are sleeping, perhaps — you can actually disable this feature altogether. Here's how to turn off the DualSense controller speaker on your PS5.

Read more
How to sign up for the Hades 2 playtest
Melinoe fighting in a dark forest.

We first saw Hades 2 last year when it was announced, but it has yet to receive a release date. We know it will first be coming to early access, just like the first game, but the only timeframe we have is the second quarter of 2024. It appears that Supergiant might be closing in on that date, however, as you can now sign up for the first playtest and experience the game even before it comes to early access. This technical test is a said to be a major step toward early access to resolve any technical problems before a wider audience can play. Here's how you can sign up to be part of a small team selected to play the game before anyone else.

Read more
The best Fallout 4 mods
Everyone's Best Friend

The Fallout games, at least since Fallout 3, have been absolutely massive games in both scale and popularity. The post-nuclear-war setting is rife with interesting stories to experience and monsters to kill. Fallout 4 was the last single-player entry in the series before Fallout 76 took the game into a persistent multiplayer experience. A large appeal of these games is how you are able to actually role-play and immerse yourself in the game world, which isn't so easy with other players jumping around in their underwear. Thanks to mods, it has never been a better time to revisit the last "pure" Fallout game.

Just like Skyrim, Fallout 4 mods are incredibly popular. Some are inspired to fix the numerous bugs and glitches Bethesda games have become famous for, while others look to add new features. As open and dynamic as the base game is, mods just open the door to an almost endless supply of tools you can use to extend the life of your game. With so many mods available, it can be a little overwhelming to know where to start. We've sorted through all the best Fallout 4 mods out there and came up with the best ones you should install before stepping out of the vault once again.
Full Dialogue Interface

Read more