Glu Mobile, maker of Deer Hunter 2014, is suing the company behind Kill Shot, a military sniper game, claiming that its work has been copied.
San Francisco-based Glu alleges that Hothead Games' Kill Shot, launched in August and a success on mobile sales charts, is a copy of Deer Hunter 2014. Glu has just launched its own sniper game, Contract Killer: Sniper. Hothead's previous work includes Penny Arcade Adventures and DeathSpank.
"Kill Shot is effectively a complete ripoff of our game Deer Hunter 2014," said Chris Akhavan, president of publishing at Glu Mobile, in an interview with GamesBeat. "The only difference is that in Kill Shot, you are shooting humans. In our game, you are shooting deer and other animals."
Akhavan added that some minor errors in its game have also shown up in Kill Shot, and supplied comparative screenshots (below) that Glu says demonstrate similarities between Kill Shot on the right, and Deer Hunter on the left.
"We think they spent months replicating our game," Akhavan said. "We have never initiated a lawsuit like this, and have never seen anything on this scale. We are also puzzled why they chose to go this route. It's shocking how they went about it." Polygon has contacted Hothead Games for comment.