Chinese MMO accused of stealing art from World of Warcraft, others

Posted by Mike Schramm on Dec 2, 2008 in General • Comments

Filed under: Rogue, Items, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, News items

aurorabladeripoff Chinese MMO accused of stealing art from World of Warcraft, others

A Chinese browser-based MMO named Aurora Blade has been accused of lifting art and design work from a few other MMOs, including Ragnarok Online, Maple Story, and yes, even World of Warcraft. You can judge for yourself in the comparison above (the little Rogue is Aurora Blade, obviously), put together by ShackNews, but that definitely looks alike to us. The game is hosted in the West by a company called IGG, and they’ve responded by saying that they only host the game and aren’t responsible for the game’s artwork.

They give no indication, however, who is responsible for the artwork of the game, and there’s nothing on the page or in the FAQ that gives a company name out either. Granted, Aurora Blade is hardly competition for World of Warcraft, but at this point it appears to be up to Blizzard whether they’ll bother taking further action to get to the bottom of this.

Of course, there is a flaw in their plan. If they really wanted to rip off some cool Rogue armor, wouldn’t it be Bloodfang? Why bother with Shadowcraft?

Chinese MMO accused of stealing art from World of Warcraft, others originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.