The Witcher 3 Has A Ridiculous Mobile Rip-Off
A mobile game is shamelessly ripping off The Witcher, and it's a sign that plagiarism keeps going unpunished in the gaming industry.
04th Aug 2022 10:13
ONEMT
The Witcher 3 Has A Ridiculous Mobile Rip-Off
A mobile game is shamelessly ripping off The Witcher, and it's a sign that plagiarism keeps going unpunished in the gaming industry.
04th Aug 2022 10:13
ONEMT
Plagiarism in gaming is fairly common in the video game world, and yet, it's still pretty well rewarded. Although you'd think companies would be a little easier to pull the trigger on legal action given the major losses that come with dealing with a rip-off, it's commonplace.
Just look at Stumble Guys being the carbon copy of Fall Guys - developed for mobile and absolutely dominating the Apple app store while making money hand over foot. Plus, with the recent God of War rip-off that appeared on the Microsoft Store, the problem seems to be getting worse. Now, it's The Witcher that has fallen victim to the curse.
What Is The Witcher Rip-Off?
A new mobile game has caught the eye of a lot of gamers, namely because it's pretty shamelessly using a character that looks exactly like The Witcher's Geralt of Rivia to promote it. Given that Geralt is an icon up there with Lara Croft, Kratos, or Mario, it's no surprise this one is popular.
The game, titled Rise of the Kings, was first pointed out in the Gaming subreddit. The game's key art was shared, with the image of the white-haired sword-wielding warrior on the cover very blatantly evoking The Witcher's Geralt.
Even the armour is an embarrassing rip of the promo materials for Netflix live-action The Witcher series, and fans have taken to ripping it to shreds. "Heard he's looking for the Mild Hunt," says one comment. And as another user calls this pale imitation "Jerry of Nivea," it's clear that fans are seeing through this facade.
What Exactly Is Rise Of The Kings?
The game itself doesn't actually have much to do with the gameplay of The Witcher, and in fact, is more of a Diablo Immortal than Geralt's game. The official synopsis of the game reveals that Rise of the Kings sees the player "develop settlements, expand your territory, and build up your very own army to command. Monumental challenges await you!"
Though the title looks to be a smoothie of ideas pulled from other games, it actually has 10 million downloads to its name - so it looks like it's working. As Fortnite would've told you before it was pulled from the App Store, mobile games can make a small fortune through microtransactions. "Plagiarism works" isn't exactly the message we'd like to assert, but if Rise of the Kings is anything to go by, it seems truer by the day.
About The Author
Joseph Kime
Joseph Kime is the Senior Trending News Journalist for GGRecon from Devon, UK. Before graduating from MarJon University with a degree in Journalism, he started writing music reviews for his own website before writing for the likes of FANDOM, Zavvi and The Digital Fix. He is host of the Big Screen Book Club podcast, and author of Building A Universe, a book that chronicles the history of superhero movies. His favourite games include DOOM (2016), Celeste and Pokemon Emerald.
