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| Squid Game, the global hit show centered on deadly children's games, has become hugely popular in China even though it is not officially released there. The poster design for Squid's Victory (left) looks similar to Squid Game (right). (Photo by=Weibo) |
[Asia News = Reporter Reakkana] Chinese streaming giant Youku has come under fire for allegedly plagiarising Netflix hit Squid Game, after pushing promotional material for a new variety show called Squid's Victory, BBC reported.
Like Squid Game, the show will see contestants compete in "large-scale kids' games". Even its posters are very similar to that of the Korean hit. Netizens slammed the "shameless" platform for not being more original. In response, Youku has apologized and said that it’s just a "draft" poster. "Due to a work error, the first draft of the new Game's Victory show, which was shot down before, was mistakenly used in promotional activities at a trade fair," the streaming company wrote on the Twitter-like platform Weibo, alongside a markedly different poster for a show now titled Game's Victory. However, social media users weren’t convinced."It sounds like such a lame cover-up. Obviously, they had tried to rip off Squid Game because of how popular it is," one Weibo user wrote.
Others said that they were "fed up" with how much Chinese producers plagiarised Korean content. Popular rap music competition shows The Rap Of China, for example, has been criticized before for being a copy of South Korea's Show Me The Money. Youku, which has an estimated subscriber base of between 90 and 100 million, is one of China's most popular streaming platforms.
