Two days ago, Epic games released a new gameplay mode to Fortnite called Battle Royal. This would be fairly mundane news except that over a million people have already played it, and that is in large part because it is very similar to PUBG. Unfortunately, PUBG has called foul and threatened to sue. The real issue at hand isn’t that Epic released this mode, but what PUBG hopes to achieve, and why this is a very bad move for them.

The very first issue is that legally PUBG does not likely have a case. Many games companies have tried to sue for less and failed. Second, this is a free update, so Epic Games is not directly profiting from it – which matters for courts and fans alike. More importantly though, the concept of survival and dead zones wasn’t originated by PUBG, it was just evolved by them. Most recently, we saw it in Hunger Games, which in turn took it from the manga/movie Battle Royale – which Fortnite even clearly references in the name of the game mode, Fortnite: Battle Royale.

The point is, PUBG’s concept is not original, so what they would legally argue would probably fall under the ‘look and feel’ of the game – something that has held water legally in the past – but even this is unlikely to work, not just because Fortnite doesn’t look or feel a whole lot like PUBG.

What Fortnite released is a game mode. There is a reason Heroes of the Storm, Dota 2, and League of Legends can all coexist. It’s the same reason why a variety of capture point, payload, and capture the flag games can all coexist. You can’t lay claim to a game mode, which is essentially what PUBG wants, and if they want to grow as a game, they should be encouraging anyone inspired by their success. That’s what Riot did, and it has worked out pretty well for them.

Morally, PUBG is also sort of shooting themselves in the foot. Although fans have not risen in revolt yet, many are mystified by PUBG’s outrage over the issue. It seems almost childish for them to demand that no one else is allowed to use a concept, as if they own a monopoly on a way of gaming. The threats to sue aren’t helping either, especially if fans enjoy Fortnite’s Battle Royal mode.

Right now, Fortnite is looking like the winner of this battle both legally and publicly (free content is hard to argue with), and unless PUBG changes its tune quick, it’s going to stay that way.