There are claims that Squid Game is a ripoff of the Japanese horror film As the Gods Will, which has led to a plagiarism controversy for Netflix's show. The story of Squid Game is set in South Korea and follows 456 people who agree to participate in a series of games for a chance to win 45.6 Billion Won and become incredibly wealthy. What they didn't realize was that each of the children's games had a deadly twist, where those who failed to win or complete the game died.
Thanks to its compelling and shocking narrative, Squid Game became insanely popular on Netflix shortly after its release. People from around the world tuned in to watch the Korean series as word of mouth continued to grow. The show's popularity came as a surprise, as it doesn't feature many actors who most people across the globe would know. However, Squid Game was compared to The Hunger Games and Battle Royale, which give most a great frame of reference for what type of story Squid Game tells. The series is very different from the aforementioned survival-based stories, but some controversy arose due to claims that Squid Game ripped off Takashi Mike's 2014 movie As the Gods Will.
Squid Game's plagiarism controversy is rooted in the similarities of its premise and that of As the Gods Will. The Japanese film follows a group of high schoolers who are forced to play various games that will kill them if they lose. The first game that is played in As the Gods Will is even Daruma-san ga koronda, a variation on Red Light, Green Light, which is also the first game players compete in during Squid Game. On top of both beginning with a game of Red Light, Green Light, several viewers familiar with both properties pointed out that even some Squid Game's shots are eerily similar to As the Gods Will. These are the main roots of Squid Game's plagiarism controversy.
Even though there are some similarities between Squid Game and As the Gods Will, the claims that Squid Game is a ripoff do not hold up very well. The basic deadly games premise is something several movies and TV shows have used before, as show by comparisons to other survival movies. While both of the properties mentioned using Red Light, Green Light is somewhat strange, the truth is that Squid Game was in development long before As the Gods Will was made. Hwang Dong-hyuk began working on Squid Game back in 2009 even though it took nearly a decade for it to find a home at Netflix and be made. That is why Dong-hyuk has repeatedly denied Squid Game's plagiarism claims.
Squid Game certainly didn't ripoff As the Gods Will, and it is surprising to see such controversy come from these claims. Both properties might see people compete in deadly versions of childhood games, but the reasons they are playing and the forces behind the competition are incredibly different. Squid Game's characters are people in great debt, who've been given a chance to climb out of their economic despair by winning six games put on by a group of twisted billionaires. Meanwhile, As the Gods Will has teenagers trying to survive games orchestrated by deities. Furthermore, this overall story has been told in various forms of media for years, so neither Squid Game nor As the Gods Will are groundbreaking for this setup.