Apex Legends developer Respawn recently announced a new character, Fuse. Shortly after this announcement, indie studio NOWWA told Nintendo Life that the character is a replica of the one-eyed "space bandit" Hunter from the upcoming hero shooter BulletVille.

"We are happy that the Apex Legends team liked the Hunter's style enough to want to recreate it in Apex Legends," said the team.

"Nonetheless, as a small indie game producer with a game yet to be released, we're afraid that people will say we're pacifying Apex Legends.

In a series of emails, NOWWA CEO Yohami Zerpa explained that the studio is negotiating a publishing deal for BulletVille with EA Originals, EA's indie-focused label. These negotiations began in early 2020, with playtest demos in October and November 2020.

"I don't necessarily see a connection between EA Originals and the folks at Respawn, but suffice it to say that EA knows us at the very least.

The two characters definitely have something in common: Hunter carries a pistol and a rocket launcher, and Fuse's ultimate weapon is, yes, a rocket launcher. The hunter carries a pistol and a rocket launcher, while Hughes' ultimate weapon is, yes, a rocket launcher.

At the same time, with a huge number of new games being developed in a very limited genre and a correspondingly small number of character archetypes employed, design overlap is inevitable; Fuse is similar to Hunter, while Hunter is similar to Atlas Reactor (now Fuse is similar to Hunter, but Hunter immediately reminds one of Lockwood from Atlas Reactor (now Atlas Rogues). He also owes a debt to Demoman of TF2, a one-eyed, grenade-belted explosives fan with a Scottish rather than an Australian accent.

BulletVille also seems willing to borrow from the concept itself: for example, the Angel character has cyborg wings, very similar to those equipped by Overwatch's medic Mercy.

This is not to dismiss NOWWA's claims out of hand, but to acknowledge that the more hero shooters there are, the more similarities are likely to occur. It is increasingly difficult to say what is intentional copying and what is mere coincidence or the result of shared ideas about what looks cool. In a similar recent case, Riot was sued for borrowing the likeness of a real person for a League of Legends character, but apparently nothing happened. Such things may happen more often in the future, and it will not be easy to decide which is right.

According to Zerpa, the lawsuit is not aimed at securing a large payment to NOWWA. The studio is considering its options, including the possibility of a cease-and-desist order, but a meaningful legal claim against EA would be very costly to pursue, he conceded.

For now, perhaps with an eye toward unfavorable comparisons to Overwatch, which met Hi-Rez's hero shooter Paladin, Zerpa said the immediate goal is "to make sure people don't call us a rip-off when we release the beta in a few months He said that the goal is "to make sure that people don't call us a rip-off when we release the beta in a few months. He also said that rather than roll the dice in a legal showdown with EA, which still wants a publishing deal, NOWWA might choose to "take the bullet" and change its character so that no one claims to be making a copycat product.

I have reached out to Electronic Arts for comment on NOWWA's claims. In the meantime, if you would like to try BulletVille when you get a chance, you can sign up for the beta program at bulletville.com.