Bluehole hits out at Epic for 'replicating' Battlegrounds in Fortnite

Epic Games has managed to rile up PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds developer Bluehole by announcing a new battle royale mode for its own game, Fortnite.

It might've seemed like a relatively innocuous reveal, but the South Korean studio isn't happy at all. 

In a press release fired out this morning, Bluehole vice president Chang Hang Kim expressed frustration at Epic Games -- which incidentally creates the Unreal Engine 4 that powers Battlegrounds -- for endorsing Fortnite's new mode. 

"We've had an ongoing relationship with Epic Games throughout Battlegrounds' development as they are the creators of UE4, the engine we licensed for the game," he explained.

"After listening to the growing feedback from our community and reviewing the gameplay for ourselves, we are concerned that Fortnite may be replicating the experience for which Battlegrounds is known.

Hang Kim also seems irritated by the fact that Epic cites Battlegrounds as the inspiration behind Fortnite: Battle Royale. 

"Yeah, we made a PvP mode for Fortnite. We love battle royale games like Battlegrounds and thought Fortnite would make a great foundation for our own version," wrote Epic's worldwide creative director Donald Mustard in a post on the PlayStation blog. 

It's a comparison that's clearly upset Bluehole, which claims the statement "was never discussed with us, and we don't feel that it's right." The studio added it may take "futher action," but it's unclear what that means, and where it would stand legally if it chose that route. 

After all, it's worth remembering that PlayerUnknown himself, Brendan Greene, cut his teeth working on battle royale mods and modes for other titles like ARMA 2 and H1Z1.

You can compare the two titles for yourself by checking out the Fortnite: Battle Royale trailer at the top of the page.