Summary
Highlights
MOBA games, popularized by League of Legends on PC, expanded massively into the mobile market between 2015-2017. Tencent's Honor of Kings dominated China, while its global version, Arena of Valor, and Moonton's Mobile Legends gained significant traction, leading to a long-standing battle characterized by accusations of plagiarism and numerous lawsuits.
By 2015, League of Legends was a global success. Tencent, Riot's parent company, requested Riot to develop a mobile version, which Riot declined. Tencent proceeded to create their own mobile MOBA, Honor of Kings, which Riot employees discovered was a blatant rip-off of League of Legends. Despite Riot's concerns about IP infringement, Honor of Kings launched in China in 2015, followed by its global version, Arena of Valor, solidifying Tencent's dominance in the mobile MOBA space.
In 2016, Moonton Technology released 'Mobile Legends: 5v5 MOBA', which quickly faced accusations of plagiarizing League of Legends. Riot filed a complaint in 2017, detailing extensive infringements, from character abilities to map design. Moonton temporarily removed the game and relaunched it as 'Mobile Legends: Bang Bang' with minor changes. Notably, early versions of Mobile Legends also contained elements identical to Tencent's Honor of Kings and even direct rip-offs of characters like Dante from DMC.
Riot's lawsuit against Moonton was dismissed by a Californian court, which ruled that the case would be better suited for a Chinese court due to Moonton's registration in China and Tencent's ownership of Riot. This fueled Mobile Legends' growth. Subsequently, Tencent sued Moonton's former CEO in a Chinese court for violating non-compete agreements, as the CEO had co-founded Moonton while still employed by Tencent. The lawsuit also raised questions about whether Moonton used Tencent's trade secrets and assets to develop Mobile Legends, with visual evidence suggesting direct copying of assets like the Honor of Kings logo.
Shanghai's court ruled in Tencent's favor in the non-compete lawsuit, awarding them $2.9 million USD. Despite popular misinformation, this settlement was for Tencent, not Riot, and did not address the plagiarism directly. In a surprising turn, Moonton later sued Tencent for commercial defamation in 2019, alleging Tencent spread false information to discredit them. Tencent was found guilty of attempting to sabotage a Mobile Legends esports tournament through a third-party lawyer, resulting in a minor penalty.
In 2019, Riot announced League of Legends: Wild Rift for mobile to compete in the market it had initially dismissed. Moonton continued to infringe on Riot's IP, copying logos, promotional material, cosmetics, and gameplay features from Wild Rift. In 2022, Riot filed a revised, extensive complaint in the Central District Court of California, detailing Moonton's infringements over five years, including copying custom Nike shoes and game features from Wild Rift's beta. Riot sought substantial damages and justified why the US court should hear the case to prevent another dismissal.
Despite Riot's comprehensive complaint, the court again dismissed the lawsuit based on the Forum Non Conveniens doctrine, a decision Riot appealed but eventually withdrew in 2024 after reaching an undisclosed global settlement with Moonton. While the settlement details remain private, Moonton has since slowed its infringement rates, made some design changes, and updated its logo to distance itself from League's aesthetic. However, the video argues that Moonton's overall success and growth into a multi-billion dollar company were largely fueled by consistent and blatant plagiarism.
The video concludes by highlighting the extensive list of games and media Moonton has allegedly plagiarized, including Dota, Elden Ring, and Castlevania, beyond just League of Legends and Honor of Kings. It criticizes Moonton's consistent copying, arguing that while some progress has been made in differentiating their game, it doesn't excuse a decade of infringement. The speaker expresses disappointment that the mobile MOBA space's significant growth is overshadowed by Moonton's controversial history, and that legal systems have seemingly failed to hold them accountable for blatant theft, leaving original artists uncompensated.