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Post the Indian government's decision to ban PUBG Mobile in the country, nCore Games' FAU-G has been trending all over social media.
On the 2nd of September, PUBG Mobile and 117 other Chinese apps were banned by the Indian government, a move which sent shockwaves through the game's million-strong fanbase in the country.
However, Indian superstar Akshay Kumar soon made a monumental announcement which stated that an Indian alternative to PUBG Mobile is on its way. The game is called FAU-G (Fearless and United Guards).
After an initially overwhelming response, nCore Games received a setback when allegations of plagiarism related to the game's poster began to surface online:
Soon, several users began to call out nCore Games for the lack of originality, as FAU-G's poster was alleged to have been ripped off from artist Phet Thai's original Shutterstock image. The image also features in the song 'Today We Rise', by Collision of Innocence.
In the face of mounting criticism, nCore Games has now issued an official statement.
nCore Games' statement related to FAU-G
The allegations of plagiarism are not the only issue being faced by nCore Games, as some rumours have also started doing the rounds, which claim that FAU-G is the brainchild of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
In an official post on Twitter, nCore Games decided to issue an official statement and address all of the recent allegations:
While addressing the claims that the game was Sushant Singh Rajput's idea, nCore Games clarified:
This statement is being issued to address certain conversations/ rumours on social media that FAU:G was conceptualized by late actor Shri Sushant Singh Rajput, which is completely false and baseless. Mr. Akshay Kumar has been a mentor to nCore . FAU:G is designed and developed by the team at nCore . All copyright and intellectual property related to FAU:G is owned by nCore.
nCore Games' Twitter handle also addressed the allegations of plagiarism, claiming that FAU-G's poster is a licensed stock image:
We would like to further clarify that we have officially bought the license to use the image from Shutter stock. Additionally this is just a teaser poster and we would be releasing the official game Title screen and in-game art soon.
nCore Games ended their statement by saying that if need be, they will initiate necessary legal action against people or outlets who propagate such kind of 'fake' and 'baseless' rumours.
While a large section of the online community have alleged nCore Games of plagiarism, another section has come out in full support of FAU-G and the makers of the game:
