Has Zynga met their match? (EA sues Zynga for copyright infringement.)

[dclose]

It will be interesting to see where this lawsuit goes. Electronic Arts is suing Zynga for copyright infringement: it's Sims versus the Ville.

Edit: A copy of the full legalese complaint can be found here.

Edit2: Kotaku has posted statements from both sides in the fight.

[RebelBinary]

Fight fire with fire, lol

It's nice to see two juggernauts go at it. Both games are crappy, but Zynga is just so notorious for copying over and over again, it's nice to see them challenged.

[Blackharon]

Originally Posted by RebelBinary

Fight fire with fire, lol

It's nice to see two juggernauts go at it. Both games are crappy, but Zynga is just so notorious for copying over and over again, it's nice to see them challenged.

I wouldn't say Sims social is crappy. I rather liked it, it took me back to the days I was playing the original Sims. Never tried Zynga's version though.

Whatever the outcome, hopefully this'll make Zynga try a LITTLE to mask the blatant copying they've been doing.

[RebelBinary]

Originally Posted by Blackharon

I wouldn't say Sims social is crappy. I rather liked it, it took me back to the days I was playing the original Sims. Never tried Zynga's version though.

I apologize in advance for being harsh

The problem I had with the sims and in particular simcity social is they are empty hollow gameplay experience masquerading as real games. The deeper game mechanics of the original are missing. You decorate a space and click on things to collect coins so you can get more things to decorate. It caters to our often irrational reward-gratification impulses.

I admit I liked frontiere ville and farmville when they first came out, but I came to realize that the only game I was playing was showing up on time to collect the rewards.

[Rainier]

It's about time there was a major push-back. ZNGA's whole business model is based on copying other market leaders. Take a look at their history:

http://mashable.com/2012/07/02/zynga...l-vs-The-Ville

[David Phan]

I've made this prediction on a couple of other sites, but my bet is on this case getting settled out of court with Zynga paying out EA and doing an update to the Ville to address the most egregious cloning issues. Yeah I know, that would basically be the entire game.

They're not going to take down The Ville though and the only people who win if this drags out are the lawyers.

DP

[PodCubed]

It was interesting that EA had placed in the lawsuit about Nimblebit and Tiny Tower, and I think it was mentioned somewhere that EA knows the other companies don't have the collateral to go against Zynga but they do. Would be interesting to see how it pans out.

[Barcâ]

Mike Schramm ‏had this comment to make, pretty damn funny.


@mikeschramm

"Well, stock prices are down and our audience is dropping, but at least things can't get any worse. Oh hey, what's this envelope from EA?"

[Devcade]

Originally Posted by dclose

It will be interesting to see where this lawsuit goes. Electronic Arts is suing Zynga for copyright infringement: it's Sims versus the Ville.

Edit: A copy of the full legalese complaint can be found here.

Edit2: Kotaku has posted statements from both sides in the fight.

I don't care much for EA or Zynga, but for the sake of having the freedom to create clones,
EA should lose. You can't copyright an idea, game rules, or game play.

A big company like Zynga that has millions of dollars shouldn't be creating clones in the first place.
Leave that alone for the little guys.

[nvx]

Originally Posted by Devcade

I don't care much for EA or Zynga, but for the sake of having the freedom to create clones,
EA should lose. You can't copyright an idea, game rules, or game play.

A big company like Zynga that has millions of dollars shouldn't be creating clones in the first place.
Leave that alone for the little guys.

The "little guys" should also be clever enough to create their own innovative games too

Nobody can blame developers (especially the little guys) of copying base ideas or mechanics, but there is no excuse for ignoring opportunities to innovate and trying something different at the same time

Copying something outright (creating clones) is just plain greedy and cheap.


Entirely my own opinion