The free-to-play battle royale multiplayer Ring of Elysium appears to have based a character skin on an Instagram model without her consent. Following similarities between user Mei Yan and the character Lynn, the unaware Instagram model yesterday posted a comparison of her original photo with developer Tencent’s, which has since been taken down from their site.
The comparison image can be seen below:
Yan has reportedly been in contact with Tencent representatives but has not yet heard back from the developer (via USGamer). Her original post on Instagram stated, “I had no idea this was even happening,” adding that “it’s such a shady trick to pull”. In an email to USGamer, Yan wrote: “I was honestly kind of lucky to hear about it from a follower who happened to play the game, recognized me, and sent me a message over Instagram.”
“I’m pretty used to having my content and likeness stolen. But this is really on another level.”
The likeness between the two photos in Yan’s post is pretty evident, and Tencent’s withdrawal of these images since her post suggests that they might be in damage control. With over 196,000 followers on Instagram, Yan’s original Instagram post has since gained almost 15,000 likes. The Lynn character skin was intended to become available through the Ring of Elysium Battle Pass, but given Tencent’s withdrawal of all content related to the character, it’s looking likely that the current character model will no longer be available.
This news comes after Epic Games came under fire for creating Fortnite dance emotes based on famous dances, even being sued for infringing on the copyright-pending “Milly Rock” dance, on the basis that this dance is was copied by Epic and sold for profit. In a similar case, the Scrubs star Donald Faison voiced his frustration for Epic’s clone of his “Poison” routine without credit or financial reparation. You can read a full history of the now-infamous dance here.
