Aspiring game developers in Fortnite and Roblox keep suing each other

Sometimes, it's a case of Red Vs Blue vs. Red Vs Blue.

In one lawsuit, the developer of Crazy Red Vs Blue, a user-made game accessible within Fortnite, said the developer of Super Red vs Blue copied their game’s splash screen. A lawyer for SRvB countered that CRvB couldn’t claim ownership. Image: Court filings

In recent years, the pitch from the world’s biggest video game companies has been simple: Come make a game inside our game, and potentially make money—maybe even a lot of money—for your effort.

In Fortnite and Roblox, tens of thousands of people have obliged.

And now the lawyers are showing up, too, because the world of user-generated games is becoming a legal battleground.

For Game File, I’ve tracked more than half a dozen lawsuits in the U.S. involving game creators who’ve built games in Roblox or Fortnite and are now accusing each other of copying their games.

Take game developer Mateo Martić, who goes by MM Games and created Crazy Red Vs Blue, a popular game made via Fortnite’s Island Creator program, in which users can create their own games that operate alongside Epic Games’ battle royale.

In May, Martić sued Mostafa Chajar, developer of another user-made Fortnite game, Simple Red Vs Blue.

The core issue: Martić alleges that Chajar stole a specific asset created by Martić and plopped it into his own game. That asset is the “golden vault,” where rare items are stashed. Martić wants damages for the infringement.