Apex Legends Faces Accusations of Imitating Character Design From Indie Shooter BulletVille

This past week has been action-packed for Apex Legends fans. In the buildup to Apex’s eighth season, a couple of reveal videos from Respawn gave fans the first glance at the incoming fresh content. Season 8: Mayhem will introduce an explosives enthusiast named Walter “Fuse” Fitzroy as the 16th Legend to the combat roster.

While the first cinematic short detailed Fuse’s backstory, the next trailer showcased his grand arrival to the Apex Games that unfortunately resulted in a portion of Kings Canyon being destroyed. We also got a close look at his in-game character model. He sports a mustache, a metal arm, and an eyepatch, among other noticeable attributes that give away the impression of him being a real badass.

However, as we edge closer to Season 8’s February 2 launch date, it seems Fuse’s appearance has sparked a bit of controversy. Liechtenstein-based studio, NOWWA, held Respawn Entertainment and EA responsible for copying a character from their upcoming game, BulletVille.

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BulletVille developer accuses Apex Legends of ripping off Season 8 Legend Fuse from one of its characters

NOWWA, an indie studio working on the hero shooter, reached out to Nintendo Life claiming that Apex Legends might have imitated certain design aspects from BulletVille’s Hunter for creating Fuse. According to NOWWA, Hunter has been publicly revealed for almost two years. They feel Fuse’s design shares some striking similarities with their character.

The indie studio mentioned BulletVille held playtests with EA during last year’s October and November. Their primary concern is that they might face accusations of ripping off Apex Legends, rather than the other way around.

NOWWA’s concern seems valid since they are a smaller studio compared to Respawn and are yet to launch BulletVille. The developer also put forth the following statement on the matter:

“We are happy that the Apex Legends team liked Hunter’s style to the point of wanting to recreate it in Apex Legends. We were even hoping for an eventual crossover! Nonetheless, we are afraid that, as a small indie game producer whose game hasn’t been launched yet, we’ll be called a ripoff of Apex Legends, which is certainly not true.”

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Some similarities between the two characters

As for the similarities between Apex Legends’ Fuse and BulletVille’s Hunter, NOWWA pointed out some visual characteristics. These include the following features:

“Eyepatch, biker attire, skull belt mechanical arm, mustache, belt of grenades, gloves, necklace, vest jacket with circular symbol on the back, leg holsters, red/grey color scheme, and characteristic grey stripe of hair.”

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Beyond that, the indie developer underlined another gameplay similarity between the two characters. While a rocket launcher is a key constituent of Hunter’s arsenal, Fuse’s rumored ultimate ability also uses a similar sort of weapon.

As of now, Respawn has not provided a statement on the matter. Neither have NOWWA’s claims of Apex Legends copying a character’s design from BulletVille been proven correct.

In the vast world of game development, it’s not uncommon for different franchises’ characters to draw inspiration from each other. At the same time, even though both characters appear quite analogous, it might be purely coincidental.

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