Question about copyright

[The0s0]

Hello,

I have a question about the copyright of Vintage Story, sorry if I’m posting it in the wrong topic.

You see, a few months ago, we learned that the game Palworld was facing complaints from Nintendo because they found gameplay mechanics too similar to Pokémon.

I did some research, and I couldn’t find any trace of complaints from Mojang. However, I was wondering: in a hypothetical future, could Mojang file a lawsuit against Vintage Story for plagiarism? The similarities are quite numerous, both in terms of graphics (the cubes) and gameplay (example: the 3x3 crafting grid interface). If Mojang were to file a complaint, what would be Anego Studio’s defense? Are the similar elements different enough to avoid being targeted by a lawsuit? Have any agreements been reached? Is the cubic art style impossible to copyright? Are the crafting mechanics too simple to be patented? Has Anego Studio already prepared a legal defense plan in case of a complaint?

I was thinking about this because when I show videos/photos of Vintage Story to other people, they often remark that it’s very similar to Minecraft. One person even asked, surprised, why Minecraft had never filed a plagiarism lawsuit.

 

[Maelstrom]

I believe Tyron started work on VS in 2016.  There's numerous block/cube games out there besides VS and VS various mechanics are so dissimilar to minecraft that VS is a much different game.  Mojang/Microsuck lawsuit would be about like Ultima Online suing World of Warcraft because they're both online mmorpg.

[FlareUKCS]

Very much doubt Mojang would allow a lawsuit, MC itself is heavily inspired by Infiniminer, and while MS owns Mojang they dont own the idea of voxels, even low poly voxel games. The fallout would hurt MC a lot as gamers get rather irritated regarding lawsuits (unless its blatant).

MC and VS appeal to different markets for the most part, MC is more broad appeal while VS is more niche.

[The0s0]

19 hours ago, FlareUKCS said:

Very much doubt Mojang would allow a lawsuit, MC itself is heavily inspired by Infiniminer, and while MS owns Mojang they dont own the idea of voxels, even low poly voxel games. The fallout would hurt MC a lot as gamers get rather irritated regarding lawsuits (unless its blatant).

MC and VS appeal to different markets for the most part, MC is more broad appeal while VS is more niche.

Didn't know for Inifiniminer, thanks for the info so yes if minecraft is clearly inspired by an other voxel game maybe they cannot copyright the "voxel" esthetics.

[Zane Mordien]

They could always sue. It's not about right or wrong but who has the most money. Large companies bully smaller ones all the time if they want something. 

[FlareUKCS]

6 minutes ago, Zane Mordien said:

They could always sue. It's not about right or wrong but who has the most money. Large companies bully smaller ones all the time if they want something. 

True but the public opinion would turn nasty, nothing gets the masses going than some big corpo trying to close down the little guy, imagine the mess if some MC YT/Stream guys told the viewer what MS was trying to do, the backlash would be insane.

[Thorfinn]

Back when I ran a software business, the standard was "look and feel". As in both are required. There's not much you can do to change up function in a SCADA (Systems Control and Data Acquisition) system, and there's a huge benefit of having similar Windows-ish functionality, like R-Click opens a context menu, and even most of the text is going to be the same, like Kobold KP46 Explosion-Proof Pressure Transmitter, so you have to add functions that do not exist in your competitor's products.

VS has plenty of distinguishing characteristics, like knapping, clay-forming, metal-working, story, etc.  Not that they could not be sued, and cost them boatloads of legal bills, but they would probably not be found to violate copyright.

[Zane Mordien]

4 minutes ago, FlareUKCS said:

True but the public opinion would turn nasty, nothing gets the masses going than some big corpo trying to close down the little guy, imagine the mess if some MC YT/Stream guys told the viewer what MS was trying to do, the backlash would be insane.

I don't think it's likely, but a good PR smear campaign and some simp streamers would do wonders for over coming public opinion. 

[FlareUKCS]

Wouldn't work too well in the internet era, the little guy vs big bad corpo is far more palatable to the average gamer, even a huge streamer trying to sell that MS was just doing the right thing would hurt the streamers bottom line.

Look at Nintendo and its legal fun, Nintendo has now gained a reputation of being super litigious, to the point its a hard sell to be a Nintendo focused content creator, sure there still are those but the majority tend to diversify so as to not crash if they get got. 

[Oofishy]

As far as I know, this kinda depends on wether the court decides you can copyright game mechanics in the pal world case

you shouldn’t be able to copyright game mechanics 

[FatherMcGnutty]

23 hours ago, Oofishy said:

As far as I know, this kinda depends on wether the court decides you can copyright game mechanics in the pal world case

you shouldn’t be able to copyright game mechanics 

Hard agree here. Copyrighting game mechanics would be like a band or musician copyrighting the "A" note, simply because it was used in one of their songs. The only way Mojang could successfully win a lawsuit against Anego, I would think, would be if VS had similar story elements or characters in the game. For example, if VS had overtly copied all the mobs from the other block game, and just re-skinned them to make them slightly different colors, but otherwise they functioned the same and served the same purpose, there might be a case there. Or if the goal of VS was to travel to the "Far" dimension to defeat the "Further Dragon" using your top tier "crystallized carbon" armor and "magically enriched" weapons, well, Mojang may then have a case.

Fortunately for us, Vintage Story is so vastly different (and better) in all the ways that count, that I don't think from a legal standpoint Mojang would have much of a leg to stand on with a lawsuit. Also, as other have pointed out, the backlash would be massive if they even tried.

Edited June 23, 2025 by ReverendPutty

[Teh Pizza Lady]

On 6/21/2025 at 12:06 PM, Thorfinn said:

they would probably not be found to violate copyright.

NOT TO MENTION... MC is written in Java. VS is written in C#. It would be nigh impossible to prove that VS is ripping off MC based on this alone! Different game, different engine, different setup entirely.

[LadyWYT]

On 6/20/2025 at 11:53 AM, The0s0 said:

You see, a few months ago, we learned that the game Palworld was facing complaints from Nintendo because they found gameplay mechanics too similar to Pokémon.

I'm not an expert on the situation, but the general impression I get from everything I've seen about the matter is that it's Nintendo throwing a tantrum because they aren't the only game in town anymore, so to speak. Palworld and Pokemon have similar art styles and game concepts, but to my knowledge the gameplay is quite a bit different between the two. I could be wrong though.

On 6/20/2025 at 11:53 AM, The0s0 said:

I did some research, and I couldn’t find any trace of complaints from Mojang. However, I was wondering: in a hypothetical future, could Mojang file a lawsuit against Vintage Story for plagiarism? The similarities are quite numerous, both in terms of graphics (the cubes) and gameplay (example: the 3x3 crafting grid interface). If Mojang were to file a complaint, what would be Anego Studio’s defense? Are the similar elements different enough to avoid being targeted by a lawsuit? Have any agreements been reached? Is the cubic art style impossible to copyright? Are the crafting mechanics too simple to be patented? Has Anego Studio already prepared a legal defense plan in case of a complaint?

I don't think Mojang would file a lawsuit--Microsoft would probably be the one to do that, if it were going to happen, and I doubt it would hold up in court. Yes, there are corrupt officials that only answer to money, but money can only get you so far. 

 

On 6/20/2025 at 11:53 AM, The0s0 said:

I was thinking about this because when I show videos/photos of Vintage Story to other people, they often remark that it’s very similar to Minecraft. One person even asked, surprised, why Minecraft had never filed a plagiarism lawsuit.

There are similarities between the two, however, as others have already pointed out, the gameplay is very different. I would also say that the artstyles are very different as well, despite both being voxel-based games. Minecraft is more heavily stylized(often in a cutesy way), and relies primarily on 16x16 pixel textures. Vintage Story's textures are larger and more weathered and realistic rather than cutesy. 

As for why people keep assuming Vintage Story is just Minecraft 2.0, I'd wager it's mostly because they're only looking at the artstyles and not the actual gameplay. In its current form, Vintage Story does look very much like a heavily modded Minecraft client, though that may change in the future as the game receives more polish.