Per reporter: Bi Yuanyuan Per editor: Zhang Haini
Open the WeChat mini program, open a 5v5 game of the king, players recharge, buy skins, and wait for points. Everything is familiar operation, but suddenly, the player realizes that something is wrong.
Because, the player may be entering a copycat game.
King 5V5 Competitive Image source: game screenshot
In the game of Honor of Kings, you still need to play ranked matches to move up the ranks and buy skin enhancement skills. The difference is that players can constantly watch 30 seconds of ads for unlimited resurrection. The reporter of "Daily Economic News" found that Nescafe, Meituan Takeaway, Tongcheng Travel, Yuexi, and JBL are all sponsors of the glory of the copycat king.
Recharging is also possible. In "Honor of Kings", 68 yuan can buy a hero; In the cottage game, 128 yuan can buy 4 heroes. However, the recharge cannot be through the official channel, but through the customer service membership page "WeChat transfer".
In Tencent's own turf, copycat games are not alone. Search for the word "king" in the WeChat mini program, and many games such as "King 5V5 Competition", "King Don't Be Arrogant", "King Wants to Eat Chicken" and so on appeared.
The popularity of copycat games has not decreased, and on platforms such as Station B and Xiaohongshu, the number of views of edited videos has exceeded one million. So, who is behind the copycat game? Why is Tencent delayed?
Multiple pirated King Glory, lurking in the mini program
"Glory of Kings" and "Peace Elite" are obviously the two fist products of Tencent Games, but on the "King Elite 5V5" of the WeChat mini program, you can see the common shadow of Tencent's two games.
The reporter of "Daily Economic News" found that on the mobile phone store application, the game could not be searched, and the game only existed in the mini program. So, is "King Elite 5V5" related to Tencent?
According to the information in the Mini Program, the account subject of "King Elite 5V5" is an individual, and the category is competitive games. The reporter asked the game customer service about the relationship between the game and Honor of Kings, but did not receive a reply as of press time.
However, "King Elite 5V5" is highly similar to "Honor of Kings" in terms of login interface, heroes, and mechanism gameplay. In this game, leveling also relies on "ranked matches", and like Honor of Kings, there are world leaderboards in King Elite 5v5. Highly active players have played nearly a thousand games this season.
King Elite 5v5 Image source: game screenshot
Name or image, the heroes of "King Elite 5V5" are always like "Glory of Kings". For example, Erin in "Honor of Kings" became Elena in "King Elite 5V5"; The traditional heroes "Monkey King" and "Li Bai" are available in both games.
King Elite 5v5 Image source: game screenshot
What's even more bizarre is that "King Elite 5V5" has made a decent community: WeChat games · King Elite Circle, in which many players exchange gameplay and outfit strategies. Some video highlights have been viewed more than 10,000.
King Elite 5V5 (left) Honor of Kings (right) Image source: game screenshot
By all indications, King Elite 5V5 may be a "copycat" game. The reporter of "Daily Economic News" found that in the same time period, "Honor of Kings" had 10,000 players online, and "King Elite 5V5" had only 357 people; Among the registered players of WeChat games, "Honor of Kings" has nearly 30 million, and "King Elite 5V5" has only 12,000, which is still very different.
It is difficult to tell the real from the fake. So, is the popular "Honor of Kings" only this similar version? Again, the answer is no.
Search for the word "king" in the WeChat mini program, and games such as "king 5v5 competition", "king don't be arrogant" and "king wants to eat chicken" also appeared. In the mobile application store, there are obviously fewer pirated games, and the reporter only sees that the "King 5V5" APP is available for players to download. On the game's landing page, even directly copied the poster of "Honor of Kings".
Image source: Screenshot of the opening page of the King 5V5 game
Outside of copyright, the copycat game rubbed the side of "Honor of Kings", and extended a funny style and was moved to the short video platform. Some UP owners specially tried the copycat game, calling it "test time". In the glory of the copycat king, there is a hero who claps a basketball and wears suspenders, who is named "The Prince of Singing and Dancing", and his profile is "Just because you are too beautiful, I can't bear it". Whether it is the image or the action, it is reminiscent of the male star Cai Xukun. Videos with high views, exceeding 1.5 million.
68 yuan to buy 9 heroes, copycat the hidden gold chain of the glory of the king
Since its launch in 2015, "Honor of Kings" has been a phenomenal game for nearly 8 years. According to store intelligence data released by Sensor Tower, "Honor of Kings" earned $213 million in the global App Store and Google Play in April 2023, winning the global mobile game best-selling list (data does not include third-party Android channels).
Such a very attractive game naturally attracts attention. Even in copycat games, there are endless "forced krypton", or non-stop advertising.
The reporter of "Daily Economic News" found that "King Elite 5V5" and "King 5V5 Competition" do not have a recharge channel, but there are many advertising windows. Even switching interfaces and opening shopping malls can trigger ads, such as Nescafe, Meituan takeaway, etc. But most of them watch 30-second videos that are diverted to other games. In this game, even if you are killed in a battle, you can be forced to revive after watching an ad. Character skills, attack power are enhanced, and can also be completed by constantly watching commercials.
"Don't Be Arrogant King" is obviously much more arrogant. The first page you enter the game is a link to purchase the Permanent Hero Value Pack for 68 RMB. In "Honor of Kings", 68 yuan is mostly the price of a hero, but in "Don't Be Arrogant", 68 yuan can buy 9 heroes.
Close the page for buying heroes, and a link will pop up to entice you to top up your weekly and monthly passes. The weekly and supreme monthly passes of "Don't Be Arrogant" cost 6 yuan and 30 yuan respectively, and the benefits include obtaining bonds, diamonds and advertising-free cards. After closing this page, the next pop-up is the link to buy 4 heroes for only 12 yuan, and the original price of 128 yuan is specially purchased. The ambitions of the game are at a glance.
Image source: King Don't Arrogant screenshot
As we all know, genuine games have official recharge channels, while in pirated games, the recharge link is a page that jumps to the conversation with customer service. The customer service sends a recharge link, which is completed by WeChat transfer.
The reporter of "Daily Economic News" observed that the payee of "Don't Be Arrogant" is Shenzhen Dayang Network Technology Co., Ltd.
Image source: Screenshot of the payment page
Enterprise investigation shows that the company was established in December 2019 with a registered capital of 1 million yuan, and the legal representative is Yang Baozhen. According to the data, the company has released a total of 3 games, namely "Cute Pet Happy Consumption", "Attack on Hero Island" and "Don't Be Arrogant". The reporter called the company to inquire about the game's relationship with Honor of Kings, but there was no response as of press time.
With "King 5V5" as the keyword, it can be associated with multiple companies. For example, Beijing Huoteng Technology Co., Ltd. owns the software copyright of the "King Alliance 5V5" software, Chengdu Wufang Technology Co., Ltd. owns the software copyright of the "King Elite 5V5" game software, and Chengdu Obedient Play Technology Co., Ltd. owns the software copyright of the "King Mecha 5V5" game software.
Beijing Huoteng Technology Co., Ltd. Image source: Qichacha screenshot
A lawsuit took several years, and it was difficult to fight a copycat company
In the face of rampant copycat games, Tencent has not sat idly by, and has also taken up legal weapons to fight back.
In March 2017, Tencent sued Mu Pu Technology in the Shenzhen Intermediate Court, accusing the latter of infringing the intellectual property rights of Tencent's "Honor of Kings" and "League of Legends". In June of the same year, Tencent sued Xu Zhenhua, founder of Mu Pu Technology and former Tencent employee, for violating the non-compete clause in the labor contract.
Acquired by ByteDance in March 2021, Mu Pu Technology is a game company dedicated to going overseas. The lawsuit between "Honor of Kings" and Mu Pu Technology has been fought for 5 years, and there has been no verdict so far.
At the end of 2021, the four-year map "skinning" infringement dispute between "Crossfire" and "National Shootout" ushered in a final judgment. According to the Guangdong High Court, this is the first effective judgment in China against the infringement dispute of "skin replacement" of game maps.
In September 2019, China Intellectual Property Information Network reported that in the game infringement and plagiarism case of "Heroes' Bloody War" and "Honor of Kings", the Tianhe District People's Court of Guangzhou Municipality found in the first instance that the thumbnails and scene maps of the game map of "Honor of Kings" were original and constituted works protected by the Mainland Copyright Law.
"There have been many pirated games in previous years, and there have been 'skinning' games before, indicating that the market needs certain governance and supervision, as well as the protection of intellectual property and information." Zhang Yi, CEO of iMedia Consulting, told the "Daily Economic News" reporter. "The recent resurgence of copycat games also reflects signs of recovery in the game industry."
"Minecraft", operated by NetEase Agency, is a world-renowned high-freedom sandbox game, and one of the games called "Mini World" is suspected of plagiarism. NetEase took "Mini World" to court to request that the game be removed, but the court rejected it. The court said that the game screen of "Mini World", referring to the new copyright law, did not meet the claim of "copyright infringement". In the end, "Mini World" was required by the court to remove 230 infringing elements and pay 50 million yuan in damages.
"Whether it's borrowing, plagiarism, or tribute, it's hard to define legally. Even if the plagiarism company is sued, in a few years, the copycat game company may have gone yellow, and it does not matter if they are removed or rectified. A legal practitioner told reporters.
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