Sony's in the Firing Line as Its Latest Japanese Ad Reportedly Plagiarises Animation from Multiple Sources

At the end of last week, Sony uploaded one of its regular PlayStation lineup music videos on its Japanese YouTube channel. As usual, the advert featured some gorgeous animation in between all the gameplay footage. These videos are always a treat, but the latest one has run into a spot of bother. Sony has now removed said video from its channel following reports that the animations are plagiarising the work of other artists. You can watch a mirror of the video through here.

The above tweet shows the PlayStation trailer's animations on the right, and originals on the left. As you can see, the similarities are too obvious to deny. The director/animator who led the way on Sony's advert is Kevin Bao, and it's now been found that he's copied the work of others before. Additionally, Bao's page on the CONNECTION agency site has been taken down, as has his Instagram.

To us, it seems like Sony uploaded the trailer unaware of the plagiarised content. Within this Twitter thread, you can see several other examples of plagiarism by Bao. There are too many cases for all this to be coincidence. It seems the blame lies on his shoulders, but Sony will be taking some of the heat regardless.

An unusual scenario, this one, but what do you think? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.