Kakao Games denies copying NCSoft's Lineage 2M in latest game

A captured screen from a cinematic trailer of ArcheAge War game [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Kakao Games denied allegations that it copied NCSoft's famed Lineage 2M game in its latest ArcheAge War game.

The announcement Friday comes two days after NCSoft filed a suit against Kakao Games and XL Games, a Kakao Games subsidiary, for alleged copyright infringement of its Lineage 2M, claiming that their intellectual property (IP) and system overlap.

“ArcheAge War, released on March 21, is a remake of the IP of the globally beloved PC online game ArcheAge’s universe and characters, developed for cross-play on both PC and mobile,” Kakao Games said.

“We believe and understood that our game does not infringe upon copyright law as claimed by NCSoft, as our process of game development for ArcheAge War is considered a norm within the industry. We’ll respond thoroughly after we receive NCSoft’s lawsuit.”

The ArcheAge franchise was developed in 2013 by XL Games, a company acquired by Kakao Games in February 2020.

Kakao Games added that XL Games is a company dedicated to developing multiple games in massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) format for two decades.

ArcheAge War is Kakao Games’ newest MMORPG and was anticipated to be one of the biggest titles from the game company this year.

Users have been pointing out similarities between the game and NCSoft’s Lineage 2M MMORPG, including the interface, in-game items, content and system.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]