Arknights is a free-to-play strategic tower defense role-playing game available on both Android and iOS devices. It was first released in China on the first of May 2019, then globally on January 16, 2020. The game’s extreme popularity has already earned it an anime television series and a 3D RPG spin-off game in the works, Arknights: Endfield.
Oldeus is an NFT platform for serialized digital manga where readers will be able to create and shape stories as a community, using their provided framework for art. In an attempt to promote what they call the “next generation of manga”, Oldeus replicates an entire cutscene right out of Arknights very own game teaser, which it had released during its launch two years ago.
The promotional animation was posted on the 5th of January, and immediately went viral as people couldn’t help but notice the obvious similarities between the two animations. Fans even went as far as comparing frames side by side, and even overlapping one cinematic over the other to prove Arknights had been plagiarized.
On January 8th, Oldeus tried to quell accusations by insisting their team hired animators that had previously worked on Arknights content, and that they were currently in contact with Hypergryph to resolve the issue. On January 16th, Hypergryph released a statement staunchly denying any and all claims of contact or partnership with Oldeus. The company also claims that the trailer released by Oldeus bears a striking resemblance to their own animated cutscene, and considers it “a serious infringement of copyright and as well as other legitimate rights and interests enjoyed by Hypergryph.”
[Statement on Copyright Infringement of Roaring Flare Animated Video]
As the publisher of Arknights overseas and cooperating company with Hypergryph, Yostar will actively work together with Hypergryph to maintain the relevant rights and interests.#Arknights #Yostar pic.twitter.com/6OKsGNSLPv
— Arknights_EN (@ArknightsEN) January 16, 2023
Oldeus’s trailer, and the tweets in regard to it have since been deleted.
Source: Arknights Developer Sends Cease & Desist Letter to NFT Anime Project For Copyright Infringement
