Tencent’s Riot Games Alleges ByteDance Unit Copied ‘Wild Rift’

(Bloomberg) -- Tencent Holdings Ltd.-owned Riot Games sued ByteDance Ltd.’s Shanghai Moonton Technology Co. alleging it copied “Wild Rift,” the mobile version of its blockbuster “League of Legends” game.

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Riot Games alleges Moonton lifted content and promotional material from the “League of Legends” franchises for its “Mobile Legends: Bang Bang” game, which has been downloaded more than 500 million times on Android.

“Moonton has used its copyist tactics to create and market its mobile video game, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (‘MLBB’), which competes with Wild Rift using Riot’s own extensive, expressive content in Wild Rift itself as well as its trailers, promotional materials, and other content,” Riot claimed in the complaint, filed Monday in federal court in Los Angeles. “Moonton’s actions constitute copyright infringement.”

A representative for Moonton did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In an emailed statement, Riot Games said, “This action seeks to stop Moonton from continuing its deliberate and sustained campaign to free ride on Riot’s highly valuable League of Legends: Wild Rift and related content.” The company added: “This copying must stop.”

(Updates last paragraph with Riot statement.)

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