After Netflix’s Squid Game became a global phenomenon owing to its thrilling and dark premise, the Chinese online streaming site Youku has been accused of plagiarising the show.
On Wednesday, the streamer launched a promotional agenda for a new show title, named Squid’s Victory, using a poster that bears a close resemblance to the Korean show, directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk and features the same symbols that became a staple of the Korean hit.
The Chinese show will most likely also feature the contestants participating in certain children’s games as shown in Squid Game.
After facing severe backlash, the streamer issued a public apology, claiming that the poster bearing too many similarities was just a “draft” and renamed the show to just Victory.
On Weibo, their apology read, “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.” They also released a fresh poster that did not feature the symbols.
Plagiarism is a very serious issue and owing to the immense popularity of the Korean show worldwide, even in China, despite not being officially released there, it is prone to be a model that can be easily emulated.
Starring Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, Wi Ha-joon, HoYeon Jung and more, the survival thriller series amassed huge revenue for Netflix and has gone on to become Netflix’s most popular show. It has also led to the spike in popularity of other Korean shows and has shown increased interest in the language and culture as well.
Check out how shamefully similar the posters were before Youku revoked them: