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 it stands by its game as "an original MMORPG with a fresh IP", following numerous comparisons to World of Warcraft were made towards the game earlier this year.

Tarisland's reveal trailer released back in January only three days after Blizzard's partnership with Netease came to a close. The resulting fallout forced World of Warcraft out of the country, which was swiftly followed by the worldwide reveal of Tencent's own fantasy MMORPG. However, speaking to VG247, Tarisland producer Yangmin states that "We had already planned to issue the trailer at that time."

"Tarisland is an original MMORPG with a fresh IP," writes producer Yangmin. "Whether it's in terms of narrative content, gameplay experience, or commercial design, we are committed to delivering a completely new gaming experience. Currently, the game is 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 deliver more exciting original content to our players."

Tarisland was confronted with numerous claims of plagiarism upon its reveal by fans of Blizzard's own MMORPG - with many pointing towards certain features of the trailer including the in-game areas, characters, a very Deathwing-looking dragon, and flying airships that all bare semblence to World of Warcraft. Even former developer on World of Warcraft Chris Metzen chipped in, snarkily commenting on Twitter of the games' similarities.

This isn't the first time a Chinese developer has been accused of taking ample 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 several gameplay features from Nintendo's work. There's also Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, a game at the centre of lawsuits between from Riot Games due to its similarity to the MOBA.

The game, having only recently entered closed beta in the West, has seemingly gone down well among those who jumped in early. Tarisland is of course early on in its development, but it appears that the core gameplay is a pretty fun tab-target MMO. It'll have dungeons with five and ten player modes, 10v10 and 3v3 PvP, open world bosses, and an in-game trading ecosystem that aims to "return the free trade economy to the players".

Tarisland is running up to launch at an interesting time for the MMORPG genre, where a a fanbase once loyal and unmoving from their chosen game are now curious to at least try out any MMO that launches these days. It could very well find a home in the hearts of Western fans, even it it does like a bit like a game they've already sunk hundreds of hours into. Ultimately, if there's one thing that Genshin Impact has taught us, it's that players don't really care if copying occurs, as long as the game is good.

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