Respawn Entertainment and EA, developer and publisher behind the popular Battle Royale Apex Legends, are accused of snatching a character from the upcoming indie shooter. BulletVille.
Apex Legends, which is likely to launch on Switch next month, launches the new character Fuse as part of its eighth season on February 2nd. NOWWA, the team behind BulletVille, says they found the character to be “very famous”, noting his “eye patch, bicycle wear, skull belt, mechanical arm, mustache, grenade belt, gloves, necklace, jacket with circular symbol on the back, leg holsters, red / gray color scheme and distinctive gray hair. “
The team points out that Hunter, a character from BulletVille, has been public for almost two years and that Apex Legends’ Fuse shares’ many similarities’ with its own design. The allegations go further as NOWWA explains that BulletVille tests were held with EA in October and November 2020 – something it says “reinforces the theory of a potential ‘inspiration’.”
NOWWA shared the following statement on the matter with Nintendo Life and attached a picture of the two characters side by side:
“We’re glad the Apex Legends team liked Hunter’s style to recreate it in Apex Legends – we were even hoping for an ultimate crossover! Nevertheless, we are afraid that as a small indie game producer whose game has not yet been launched, we will be called a ripoff of Apex Legends, which is certainly not true. ‘
“Hunter can count on two weapons: a pistol and a rocket launcher. Guess what’s Fuse’s ultimate ability?” NOWWA says. “A rocket launcher.”
We contacted EA’s Apex Legends PR team for comment and will update this story as we respond.