Hyper Front to Shut Down Servers Following Riot Games' Lawsuit

One of the rising mobile character-based tactical FPS (First-Person Shooter) games in Southeast Asia, Hyper Front, announced the closure of its servers soon. The mobile shooter title will be shutting down its servers sometime in early April and shall purge all account data of players for security reasons. Until then, players can still access the game until its final day. NetEase, the company behind the mobile shooter title, thanked the fans for their contributions to the Hyper Front community. The company also apologized for the sudden closure of the game servers.

Hyper Front shuts down following Riot Games’ lawsuit against NetEase

Through a Twitter post on 3rd April, NetEase announced that it shall close down the servers for its mobile esports title Hyper Front on 10th April 2023 at 8:00 AM (UTC). Until then, players can still play the game and enjoy its services before the said schedule.

For security reasons, the developers have also announced that all player account data registered in the game shall also be deleted. However, some data may remain depending on local laws.

In the end, the developers thanked the fans for their continued support of the game since its release.

“We are proud of the community formed around Hyper Front. Thank you all for the support and love during this time and we apologize for the disappointment that this announcement might cause,” NetEase wrote.

While the reason behind the closure of Hyper Front servers was not revealed. Fans speculate that this is due to the Riot Games lawsuit, claiming that the game was copying Valorant. Through a report from Polygon, Riot Games’ lawyer Dan Nabel shared his thoughts about NetEase’s mobile shooter title.

“All of our creative choices are mirrored in NetEase’s game,” he said. “We don’t think that changing the color of a character's ability or slightly modifying the visual appearance changes the fact that it’s copyright infringement. It’s like that old saying, ‘You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.’”

The lawsuit was filed shortly after the announcement of Riot Game's highly anticipated mobile port of Valorant. The free-to-play shooter title is set to be released later this year. However, Riot Games is yet to officially confirm the exact release date of Valorant Mobile.