Read a version of this story in Korean.
A knockoff version of the popular smartphone game Clash of Clans is seemingly a hit with North Korean players, Radio Free Asia has learned.
The game, given a name that could be translated as “Fortress Defense,” closely resembles earlier builds of the 2012 smash hit by Finland’s Supercell, which has been downloaded more than 500 million times worldwide.
In Clash of Clans, users mine resources, build up their defenses and raid other users’ fortresses. The bootleg version is the latest confirmed example of a North Korean smartphone game that allows online play via the country’s intranet, which is isolated from the rest of the world as a means to prevent residents from accessing information from outside the country.
Footage of a North Korean smartphone obtained near the Sino-Korean border in China’s Liaoning province was shared to an account associated with the username Xiao Yang on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, which is said to be similar to the U.S. platforms Instagram or Pinterest.
Screen footage leaked
When powered on, the phone displayed a logo reading “Hwawon,” a North Korean smartphone manufacturer, meaning that the device cannot connect to the global internet even if taken out of the country. It is restricted to only the North Korean intranet.
In the footage, the user opens the Fortress Defense app on the phone and a loading screen appears that closely resembles a former intro screen of Clash of Clans. The logo uses the exact same wood-grain lettering, just with the knockoff title, with the same arrow-ridden shield, but the resemblance does not end there.
Cartoonish characters – a female archer shooting a bow in the foreground, flanked by her allies, and a male warrior charging at her with an extended sword, with his allies close behind – are posed in the exact same way as the actual Clash of Clans intro screen, though the opposing armies’ clothing, hairstyles and equipment are different.
At the bottom of the loading screen, a notice clearly reads: “This product is protected by the software protection law.”
The screen soon displays the message “Please check your data connection status,” followed by an error window reading, “Cannot connect to the server. Please check your network status,” before the app shuts down.
The notices used North Korean word spellings, which indicate that the bootleg was localized for North Korean users rather than a wholesale ripoff of a version of the game meant for the South Korean market.
Chat disabled
How the game actually runs inside North Korea was confirmed through footage on another Chinese video platform, Bilibili.
Footage filmed by a Chinese content creator who visited North Korea last year shows a woman, believed to be a North Korean resident, playing “Fortress Defense” on a smartphone.
At the top of the screen, a counter indicates that there are currently 42,329 players online. This suggests tens of thousands of North Korean players were active when the footage was taken and that there are likely even more users offline.
However, this version of the game does not allow users to type messages to each other. Instead, players are limited to sending each other preset phrases like “Be careful” or “Surrender.”
Fortress Defense’s seemingly blatant ripoff of Clash of Clans’ designs and gameplay has sparked considerable interest among users both in South Korea and elsewhere.
Clash of Clans fans on the South Korean internet forum DCinside commented that Fortress Defense appeared to be a “recycled older version of the original,” and that it “looks like an earlier build” of the game.
Meanwhile, users on the U.S. platform Reddit noted that Fortress Defense “is clearly a private-server game modified from an older system.” They explained that several newer features available in Clash of Clans were not present in the knockoff.
RFA attempted to contact Supercell to inquire whether the company was aware of the unauthorized use of its intellectual property inside North Korea, but as of Aug. 5, there was no response.
Edited by Eugene Whong.
