Netflix's "Squid Game" Accused of Plagiarism, Again

The show Squid Game has been embroiled in plagiarism controversy, once again.

On September 14 (local time), U.S. media outlet Bloomberg reported that Indian film director Soham Shah filed a lawsuit in federal court in New York against Netflix.

According to the report, Soham Shah claimed, "The main plot, characters, themes, mood, setting and sequence of events of Squid Game are strikingly similar to that of Luck, defying any likelihood that such similarities could be coincidence." He alleged that the Netflix series Squid Game is "a blatant rip-off" of the movie Luck.

In response, a Netflix spokesperson stated, "The claim has no merit. Squid Game was created by and written by director Hwang Dong Hyuk, and we intend to defend this matter vigorously."

This isn't the first time the series faced plagiarism controversy. Back in 2021, Squid Game was accused of plagiarizing the Japanese Movie As the Gods Will, which is also a survival thriller. One key point of argument was the fact that the first game played by the teenagers in As the Gods Will is Daruma-san ga koronda, a children's game similar to Red Light, Green Light, also the first game Squid Game players compete in. Viewers who watched both productions also specified that the K-drama's scenes are pretty similar to As the Gods Will.

However, the controversy died down given the fact that Squid Game was being developed long before As the Gods Will came. Despite being released in 2021, director Hwang Dong Hyuk began working on the series in 2009. 

Moreover, the characters of As the Gods Will are not people in great debt (like those of Squid Game) but teenagers competing in life-threatening games.

Squid Game is a story about people who participate in a mysterious survival game that promises a prize of 45.6 billion won, risking their lives to become the final winner. Season 2 is scheduled to be released on December 26.