PlayerUnknown on copyright infringement: 'There's no IP protection in games'

In the wake of PUBG's ever-growing success, a number of established games have spun their own interpretations of the battle royale formula. Several clones have since surfaced too, which has caused Brendan Greene—aka PlayerUnknown himself—to speak out against the lack of copyright protection in the games industry.

Speaking to BBC Radio 1's Gaming Show (via Newsbeat/gamesindustry.biz), Greene stressed that while he's keen to see the battle royale genre continue to grow, more needs to be done to prevent rip offs.

"I want other developers to put their own spin on the genre... not just lift things from our game," says Greene. "For that to happen you need new and interesting spins on the game mode. If it's just copycats down the line, then the genre doesn't grow and people get bored."

To this end, one particular clone that comes to mind is this Chinese Terminator 2-inspired mobile game that appears to mirror PUBG in both style and appearance. The following footage of that popped up on Reddit earlier this year:

Greene continues: "There's no intellectual property protection in games. In movies and music there is IP protection and you can really look after your work. In gaming that doesn't exist yet, and it's something that should be looked into.

"Some amazing games pass under the radar. Then someone else takes the idea, has a marketing budget, and suddenly has a popular game because they ripped off someone else's idea. I think it's something the industry needs to look into. You're protecting the work of artists basically. Games are art for a large part, and so I think it's important they're protected."

Greene's chat with Radio 1's Gaming Show will feature in full on the BBC iPlayer in January.