Respawn Entertainment and EA, the developer and publisher behind the popular battle royale Apex Legends, were accused of stealing a character from the next sniper, BulletVille.
Apex Legends, which can be released on Switch as early as next month, is expected to introduce the new character Fuse as part of its eighth season on February 2. NOWWA, the team behind BulletVille, says they found the character “quite familiar”, noting his “eye patch, biker costume, skull belt, mechanical arm, mustache, grenade belt, gloves, necklace, jacket with symbol circular on the back, holsters on the legs, red / gray color scheme and a characteristic gray hair band. “
The team points out that Hunter, a BulletVille character, has been public for almost two years, and that Apex Legends’ Fuse “seems to share many similarities” with its own design. The charges go further, as NOWWA explains that BulletVille’s game tests were conducted with EA in October and November 2020 – something that says “reinforces the theory of a potential ‘inspiration’.”
NOWWA shared the following statement on the subject for Nintendo Life, attaching an image of the two characters side by side:
“We are happy that the Apex Legends team liked Hunter’s style to the point of wanting to recreate it in Apex Legends – we were even waiting for an eventual crossover! However, we fear that as a small producer of indie games whose game has not yet been released, we will be called a copy of Apex Legends, which is certainly not true. “
“Hunter can count on two weapons: a pistol and a rocket launcher. NOWWA says. “A rocket launcher.”
We’ve contacted EA’s Apex Legends PR team for comment and will update this story if we receive a response.