A Chinese developed MMO is being accused of ripping-off assets from popular online games around the world – from Gravity’s Ragnarok Online to Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft.

That Chinese MMO is called Aurora Blade developed by MiuWorld Co.

Follow up:

Aurora Blade is being hosted in English by Sky Union Co., Ltd. or more commonly known as IGG (Internet Gaming Gate), which hosts the International English version of Wonderland Online, Zu Online, Angels Online, Tales of Pirates, Voyage Century Online, Myth War, Myth War II, and Godswar Online.

The latest, which is going on public Beta test two days from now is rocking the world of online gaming, though not in a positive way. Gamer Communities from Ragnarok Online, Maple Story, LaTale, and World of Warcraft are all talking about Aurora Blade not counting the blogs and general gaming portals and various other forums.

So what is Aurora Blade? According to IGG:

Aurora Blade is a cool, new role-playing Browser-Based MMORPG. It does not require any download or installation. Simply open the link in a new browser window, and type your IGG account and password in to start. The main aim of this new game is to build a healthy internet game-playing environment for gamers. With every click of the mouse, you can be changed into different characters or hang out in “Barlow Valley” with your friends.

The game “features all the best characteristics and advantages of PC games, MMORPGs and browser based games in one slick package.”

Just like the following very familiar character arts:

There are many more comparisons made between Aurora Blade and other online games where they supposedly ripped-off the assets, these will be provided later. Going back, IGG tried to distance themselves from the developers by posting the following statement on their boards AND the Official iRO (International Ragnarok Online) boards:

Warning – Aurora Blade Similarity
Many forum members have posted threads regarding similarity betwen Aurora Blade, and other third party games

Note:
We would like to explain that SkyUnion(IGG) is not responsible for the developing of the game, that is any character, artwork and graphic is developed by another company and this game is HOSTED by IGG.

Any thread or post containing information about other games that including screenshots, game info or any other information will be deleted, as its against the forum rules.We will also take actions against members that will repeat breaking the forum rules.Therefore we have to ban members according to the severity.This may lead to a permanent ban from the forum.

Please take note of the warning!

It is very funny that someone from IGG posted their statement on the official boards of iRO. It was not a well-thought decision, however, I give them the benefit of a doubt that it wasn’t from IGG but just some gamer having his laugh making IGG look stupid to the whole world.

Taking inspiration and ideas from one product is normal, I’m sure no one has problems with that. However, once we start to see countless of close similarities especially when it comes to artwork, that’s when the public starts to ask questions. But these things are hard to prove when it reaches the Court of Law, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Gravity and/or Blizzard Entertainment keeps silent about this.

I myself have some reservations, some of the artwork used are common and usually the design do look similar among games (for example, skill icons). Thus, the public decides, what do you think? Are they guilty or not guilty? You be the judge.

Murlocccccc!!1 MRGLR GLMRGLMR RRLGGG
Oh wait, it’s a Fish Bandit and a Begg, Aurora Blade’s mobs.

---

Update #1 (2009-01-24 Sat): Spectator, noticed that the world map of Aurora Blade is similar with Forgotten Realms, one of the top Pen & Paper world/campaign.

Quoting:

Their maps are based of that of the Forgotten Realms D&amp setting btw.

https://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn198/simply… taken from the following page: https://forum.ab.igg.com/viewthread.php?tid=384&…

Now run a comparison with what can be found here: https://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/wd_maps/FRpos…

From Lurkwood all the way to the Anauroch desert, down to the Dragonmere and the Cloud Peaks. Exact same. It’s just one of the older maps, that they’re using.

So it isn’t just popular games but also popular Pen & Paper games.

Thanks Spectator!

Visit this post to see the map comparison.

---

Sources:
Press Release: Aurora Blade
Official Website: Aurora Blade

Comparisons:
These look familiar!
Shacknews Comparisons

Except where otherwise noted, this content is
licensed under a Creative Commons License.