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Valorant Mobile Clone wrapping up over Riot lawsuit

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It’s been two years after Riot Games announced it for Valorant mobile, till then over excited fans are busy with different versions of the game available on Android and IOS. Back in January 2022, a Chinese developer named NetEase Games launched Hyper Front which is a blatant rip-off of the 5v5 tactical shooter.

Hyper Front (Image credit: NetEase)
Hyper Front (Image credit: NetEase)

About Hyper Front

Even a kid who never played Valorant can tell how similar Hyper Front looks to Riot’s lovechild. From characters to maps, even the level designs are taken from Valorant.

Since it’s day one NetEase has been facing issues with this game. Apple removed it from their App store for undisclosed reasons. Even if it’s a rip-off of Valorant, it hasn’t been able to become much successful. Google play store shows Hyper Front has over 100,000 downloads till date.

Back in July 2022, NetEase put out a $100,000 tournament for SEA (Southeast Asia) and Americans, that when it caught Riot’s eye and in December 2022 they sued the title.

Dan Nabel, Riot Games’ Lawyer stated, “All our creative choices are mirrored in NetEase’s game. We don’t think that changing the color of a character’s ability or slightly modifying the visual appearance changes the fact that it’s copyright infringement. It’s like that old saying, ’you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.’”

Hyper Front announced to shut down in a week

The official Twitter handle of Hyper Front recently announced that they will be folding the game on April 10 at 8 AM UTC. Till then the server will be live and players can enjoy the title. Though nor Riot or NetEase made it clear why the Chinese developer ‘sunsetting’ the game, because the legal matter is not settled yet.

With the announcement NetEase made it clear that there are no refunds for players. They also stated that they will delete player’s data once the servers are taken down.

ALSO READ| | Mobile gamers can fasten their seatbelt for Riot’s upcoming release

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