Outrageous! A domestic publisher's cycle of intellectual property theft and repeat offense

Recently, netizens revealed a shocking case of copyright infringement by a domestic publisher. Initially, the publisher was called out for stealing character illustrations from 'Granblue Fantasy' (often abbreviated as GBF in Chinese gaming communities). After facing backlash, they attempted a 'correction'—only to replace the stolen GBF art with illustrations from 'Arknights' instead. This 'out of the frying pan and into the fire' approach left the community in complete disbelief.

As shown in the comparisons, the characters were crudely cut out and pasted onto backgrounds without even basic color grading or blending, resulting in a jarring and unprofessional final product. Players commented that such a lazy approach is not only disrespectful to the original artists but also constitutes an incredibly amateurish business practice.

The community reaction has been intense, with many mocking the publisher's decision to target a domestic developer like Hypergryph (the team behind Arknights). While GBF doesn't have an official domestic server—potentially making legal action harder for the developer—Arknights is very much a local entity known for protecting its intellectual property. Users joked that the publisher is essentially 'begging for a lawsuit' and questioned if there was an internal mole sabotaging them, as choosing to steal from such a high-profile target is a guaranteed way to invite legal disaster.