Ward B, the studio behind the upcoming FPS "Oceanic," has accused Russian arms company Kalashnikov of copying one of its weapon ideas for a publicly available shotgun.
Its CEO Marcellino Sauceda told IGN that a Kalashnikov rep contacted them early last year, saying the company appreciated the studio's weapon ideas and wanted to cooperate on converting one of "Oceanic's" shotgun prototypes-the Mastodon-into a real firearm.
But nothing occurred after that, and it appeared to be the end of the story-until Kalashnikov introduced the new MP-155 Ultima. It's based on the popular MP-155 hunting shotgun, but with an upgraded metal and polymer chassis, as well as an inbuilt computer with compass, stopwatch, timer, ammo counter, WiFi, and USB connectivity, according to The Firearm Blog.
Onlookers and critics do eye the resemblance, and Kalashnikov, in fact, revealed on Facebook that the design was inspired by video games. Which video game, they didn't reveal, prompting others to assume it had been in fact, a rip-off.
Ward B itself believes it resembles the Mastodon a little too much. Sauceda stated that he initially believed he had missed confirmation of the licensing agreement, but when he checked the Kalashnikov website, there was no mention of the game or Ward B.
"But I already had an idea in my mind that [the contractor] was definitely not going to come back," Sauceda said. "They completely stole it."
In their defense, Kalashnikov representative Maxim Kuzin claims that the first arrangement fell through because the indie game's shaky funding and payment structures left no clear ownership of the weapon designs, so they instead collaborated with another Russian designer.
Ward B has since issued a cease and desist letter to Kalashnikov, claiming to have discovered some shady dealings in which Kuzin attempted to purchase the Mastodon design straight from the artist. They've also had the strange experience of watching Kalashnikov license the Ultima's design to Escape From Tarkov, a video game.
In Ward B's case, this means that their gun idea was made into a real gun and then ended up in someone else's video game before it had an opportunity to appear in theirs.
It's impossible to tell if the Ultima is indeed a rip-off or inspired by the Mastodon. IGN's galleries and comparison images demonstrate that the weapons have a lot in common in terms of general design, however that could be due to the blending of a lot of sci-fi and pop culture elements.
