In a nutshell: A video game studio claims that arms manufacturer Kalashnikov, maker of the AK-47, stole the design of a weapon that appears in one of its games. Just the Russian visitor has denied any wrongdoing.

Speaking in an interview with IGN, Ward B CEO Marcellino Sauceda says he was contacted by Kalashnikov contractor Maxim Kuzin in early 2022 asking for permission to plough a fictional shotgun—the Mastodon—that appears in its upcoming FPS Oceanic into a real-life weapon.

In commutation, Ward B was promised total credit for the pattern, its logo on the shotgun, and three of the finished weapons, ensuring plenty of publicity for Oceanic. Unfortunately, the contracts for the bargain didn't arrive, and Kalashnikov never got back in touch on. Ward B simply presumed that Kalashnikov disagreed with the contractor's assertation that the Mastodon would piece of work equally a real shotgun.

Courtesy of IGN

That was expected to be the end of the story, until Kalashnikov appear the MP-155 Ultima on August 21, 2022. It'due south based on the MP-155 hunting shotgun, but it has a revamped aluminum and polymer chassis and an onboard computer that shows ammo, a compass, stopwatch, and timer. It also has Wi-Fi and a rails-mounted camera, all of which make information technology look very video game-like. It bears quite a resemblance to the Mastodon, in fact. Kalashnikov even said the MP-155 Ultima was "inspired by video games" in its marketing for the shotgun.

Sauceda says sure aspects of the MP-155 Ultima make it a breathy re-create of the Mastodon. The handguard, receiver, and other elements accept the same features, some of which were only put in the game version for aesthetic reasons and take no practical use. But the most telling indicator is the L-shaped indentation to a higher place the trigger that Ward B uses every bit a motif on many of its video game guns.

"The fact that they included this indent is kind of... it's sketchy, considering I kind of feel they have the [Mastodon'south 3D model] and they forgot to exclude that part – because they did remove information technology on the other side with the commodities," said Sauceda.

Kuzin claims the deal brutal through because Ward B lacked funding and investment to consummate the game and the release appointment was unknown, meaning information technology was likewise risky to piece of work with the company. He also claimed Ward B never paid the concept artist behind the weapon, so there was no clear licensing or buying. The studio says the artist was on a deferred payment plan from the start and has now been paid.

Kuzin added that he consulted "another designer from Russia" to create the Ultima's blueprint "from scratch." But what's actually rubbed table salt in Ward B's wound is that Kalashnikov has licensed the Ultima'south pattern to a different video game, Escape From Tarkov, completing its journey from game, to real weapon, to game, allegedly.