Real and virtual weapons cannot be called identical, but they have similar elements.
Real and virtual weapons cannot be called identical, but they have similar elements.
In 2021, the Kalashnikov concern began accepting pre-orders for the MP-155 Ultima smart gun with a futuristic design and the ability to sync with mobile devices. Indie studio Ward B claims the design of the MP-155 Ultima is stolen from its Oceanic game.
In an interview with IGN, the head of Ward B, Marcellino Sauceda, says: in early 2020, representatives of Kalashnikov contacted the company and offered to create a real weapon based on one of the studio’s designs. The choice fell on the EPM28 Mastodon shotgun.
Virtual EPM28 Mastodon
According to Marcellino, representatives of the concern promised to place the studio’s logo on the weapon, send three ready-made shotguns as a gift and tell that it is the design of the Ward B that underlies the real weapon.
There were no plans to pay the studio a fee for using the design. Nevertheless, when it came to signing the contract, Kalashnikov stopped communicating.
Later, the concern announced the futuristic MP-155 Ultima shotgun. Although there is no talk of a complete resemblance to Mastodon, Ward B is sure: its design was created with an eye to the solutions invented by the studio for virtual weapons.
Real MP-155 Ultima
Neighbor advises to pay attention to small design elements similar to Mastodon and MP-155 Ultima. From a functional point of view, these details do not matter: at one time, the studio artists came up with them just for beauty.
Representatives of the concern confirmed that they were negotiating with Ward B. During the negotiations, it allegedly turned out that working with the studio is risky: it has no investors and does not have enough own funds to complete the project.
In addition, the concern said in a statement that Ward B did not pay the concept artist who sketched the weapon, making it difficult to negotiate copyright. The studio says that it was about deferred payment and the artist has already received the money.
After refusing to cooperate with Ward B, the Kalashnikov concern began working with another designer from Russia; his name is not called. The collaborative design of the MP-155 Ultima has been patented. Ward B thinks it doesn’t prove anything.
For an internal presentation, Neighbors said, employees of the concern simply took the images created by Ward B and replaced the game’s logo with their own. Representatives of Kalashnikov did not comment on these accusations.
In September 2020, Ward B sent a series of demands to the concern to discontinue use of the studio’s design. The correspondence with the concern’s lawyers, the studio claims, yielded nothing: at some point they stopped responding.
After that, Sauseda claims, Kalashnikov contacted the designer who created the Mastodon concept and tried to buy the rights to it in order to “end the conflict as soon as possible.” At that time, the rights had already been purchased by Ward B.
Interestingly, the MP-155 Ultima shotgun already has a virtual version: the weapon was added to the Escape From Tarkov shooter. Ward B employees contacted the developers and said they viewed the appearance of the shotgun as an unauthorized use of their design, but did not receive a response.
Ward B does not plan to sue Kalashnikov: the studio simply does not have the resources for this.
Representatives of the Kalashnikov concern did not respond to most of IGN’s requests for comment. The publication also failed to contact the developers of Escape From Tarkov.
