Tarisland devs deny comparisons to World of Warcraft: “Tarisland is an original MMORPG with a fresh IP”

The developers behind Tarisland have told VG247 that they stand by their game as “an original MMORPG with a fresh IP”, after numerous comparisons to World of Warcraft were made earlier this year.

The Tarisland reveal trailer dropped back in January, just three days after Blizzard’s partnership with Netease came to an end. The resulting fallout forced World of Warcraft out of the country, which was quickly followed by the worldwide reveal of Tencent’s own fantasy MMORPG. However, speaking to VG247, Tarisland’s producer Yangmin states that “we had already planned to air the trailer at that time.”

“Tarisland is an original MMORPG with a new IP,” writes producer Yangmin. “Whether it is in terms of narrative content, gameplay experience or commercial design, we are committed to delivering a completely new gaming experience. The game is currently still in its early stages and there may be significant adjustments before the final version is released. We ask for your patience as we aim to bring more exciting original content to our players.”

Tarisland faced numerous plagiarism claims following its reveal from fans of Blizzard’s MMORPG, with many pointing to certain features of the trailer, including game areas, characters, a Deathwing-like dragon, and flying airships. to World of Warcraft. Even former World of Warcraft developer Chris Metzen contributed, commenting sarcastically on Twitter of the similarities of the games.

This isn’t the first time a Chinese developer has been accused of taking broad inspiration from other games. Genshin Impact is perhaps the most infamous, releasing after The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and making use of various gameplay features of Nintendo’s work. There’s also Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, a game at the center of lawsuits from Riot Games due to its similarity to the MOBA.

The game, which recently entered closed beta in the Westapparently it has gone down well with those who jumped in early. Of course, Tarisland is in the early stages of its development, but it looks like the core game is a pretty fun tab-target MMO. It will have dungeons with five and ten player modes, 10v10 and 3v3 PvP, open world bosses, and an in-game trading ecosystem that aims to “bring the free trade economy back to players.”

Tarisland is gearing up for release at an interesting time for the MMORPG genre, where a fanbase that was once loyal and indifferent to their game of choice is now curious to at least try out whatever MMO is being released these days. It could very well find a home in the hearts of Western fans, even if it likes a bit like a game hundreds of hours have already sunk into. Ultimately, if there’s one thing Genshin Impact has taught us, it’s that players don’t really care if they get copied, as long as the game is good.

If you want to try the game for yourself, future playtests and betas are planned, so it’s worth keeping an eye on the official Tarisland website.