Mobile Legends : Bang Bang

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) mobile game developed and published by Moonton.

 

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Gameplay

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game designed for mobile phones (but also can be played on the PC). The two opposing teams fight to reach and destroy the enemy’s base while defending their own base for control of a path, the three “lanes” known as “top”, “middle” and “bottom”, which connects the bases.

In each team, there are five players who each control an avatar, known as a “hero”, from their own device. Weaker computer-controlled characters, called “minions”, spawn at team bases and follow the three lanes to the opposite team’s base, fighting enemies and turrets.

 

Copyright controversy

Riot Games, the company that develops and publishes the PC game League of Legends, filed a lawsuit on 11 July 2017 against the developer of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Shanghai Moonton Technology in the Central District Court of California as it had infringed on several trademarks in the game, including the game map, which looks similar to the well-known “Summoner’s Rift” map used in League of Legends. Two other games, Magic Rush: Heroes and Mobile Legends: 5V5 MOBA were also brought into the question. It was also revealed that Moonton quietly took down the predecessor — Mobile Legends: 5V5 MOBA – after Riot Games attempted to contact Google Play and Apple’s App Store to take the game down, and re-uploaded the same game with a different name Mobile Legends: Bang Bang with a few tweaks including a logo change, as the first also resembled the League of Legends logo.

Moonton later released a statement on the same day via their Facebook page, claiming the media that they’re spreading “unreal information and rumors” against them. Their statement also claims that “its copyright has already been registered and protected in multiple countries all over the world”. It further claimed that Moonton owned the intellectual property rights and threatened legal action against the media and competitors for spreading false information about Moonton and the game.

As of 18 July 2018, the company has lost the lawsuit, and in result, Riot Games’ parent company Tencent Holdings has been awarded 19.4 million Chinese yuan (RMB), or roughly $2.9 million USD, in its case against the developers of Mobile Legends in China. Moonton was originally only going to pay Tencent 2.6 million RMB (about $388,000 USD), according to an official court document from the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court sent to Dot Esports from a source. But the court ruled that this original settlement, a number reached by Moonton, was incorrect.