Recently, Tencent added a new skin for the M16A4 in PUBG Mobile called Psycho Savage. There wouldn’t be much to discuss if this skin didn’t closely resemble a copy of the Neon Revolution skin for the AK47 in CS:GO. The only slight difference is that the version in PUBG Mobile has a small white stripe on the head.
This has outraged the CS:GO community. Some have pointed out that this is not the first time PUBG Mobile has released suspiciously similar new skins. For example, the Field Commander AWM in PUBG Mobile looks like a knockoff of the AWP Phobos in CS:GO, or the QBZ95 Phantom in PUBG is 80% similar to the Neo-Noir Skins of CS:GO.
Does PUBG Mobile really “plagiarize” ideas from CS:GO?
Although the designs are very similar, it could just be a coincidence. However, the CS:GO community disagrees – according to them, taking someone else’s idea and just “tweaking” it a little is illegal.
Overall, this issue falls under the realm of intellectual property, as creative works like this are easily plagiarized frequently by many games worldwide – especially mobile games. This issue has caused annoyance for recent PUBG Mobile skin designs, with some skins allegedly stolen from Rules of Survival, another survival shooting game. The Ashes skin for the AKM has also been accused of stealing ideas from a mod of GTA.
Is it illegal to take ideas from CS:GO or other games?
Weapon skins in games are often under intellectual property copyright, and when something is copyrighted, others cannot copy or use it without an agreement from the owner. Even with a slight different detail added, other companies could still sue PUBG Mobile for copyright infringement. However, the likelihood is that nothing will happen, as they often resolve issues out of court to save on legal costs.