Epic Games added a new mode to Fortnite called Impostors which is similar to the Among Us game. Innersloth as the developer of Among Us was disappointed that their game was imitated, even with the same theme and map.
The presence of the Impostors mode in Fortnite was made without collaboration with Innersloth. Even the name of this mode follows the name of the alien intruder in Among Us.
"It would be very, very cool to collaborate," said Innersloth Community Director Victoria Tran, as quoted from The Verge, Friday (20/8/2021).
"Like the game mechanics, well, it shouldn't be a secret, but at least a different theme or term wouldn't make things look more interesting?" he continued.
One of the developers of Among Us, Gary Porter, even pointed out the similarities between the map used in Fortnite and the Skeld map in Among Us. "I haven't even joined the development of the Skeld map and I'm still a little offended," Porter said in a tweet.
pic.twitter.com/wTESWQHJZD
— Gary Porter (@supergarydeluxe) August 17, 2021
Calum Underwood, another Among Us developer, posted a tweet referring to the 'spicy tweets', which was eventually deleted. He then invited other game developers to collaborate with Among Us. Innersloth programmer Adriel Wallick also shared a comic about art theft online.
Innersloth co-founder Marcus Bromander said his company did not patent the Among Us mechanism because it would only make the game industry unhealthy. Bromander actually hopes that Epic Games and Fortnite will develop similar games in their own versions.
The Impostors mode in Fortnite does have gameplay similar to Among Us, but this mode is available in limited events. In this mode, 10 Fortnite players must find out which of them is trying to sabotage the group.
Normal players, or Agents, must complete several tasks on the map, while the Impostors will try to thwart the efforts of the Agents, including killing them.
Agents can also choose players who are suspected of being Impostors, just like in Among Us. Agents can win if they successfully complete all tasks or identify two Impostors.
Fortnite has also been stumbled upon several times by controversy about imitating other games. In 2018, PUBG Corp. once sued Epic Games for launching Fortnite Battle Royale whose features and rules are similar to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.
Epic Games has also previously been accused of using independent creators' artwork and emotes for Fortnite without providing credits and payments.