EA files lawsuit against Zynga, alleges ‘The Ville’ is a clone of ‘The Sims Social’

Electronic Arts (EA) and Zynga are all set to face-off in court as the America-based video games giant has filed a lawsuit against the social games maker, alleging that ‘The Ville’ copied elements of ‘The Sims Social.’

The complaint filed against Zynga for copyrights infringement highlights the strong belief of EA that the San Francisco-based social games specialist has intentionally copied and used the distinctive elements of “The Sims Social” in the development of “The Ville,” contending that it is a clear violation of US copyright laws.

Elaborating the issue, the general manager of EA’s Maxis label Lucy Bradshaw stated, “When The Ville was introduced in June 2012, the infringement of The Sims Social was unmistakable to those of us at Maxis as well as to players and the industry at large,” said Lucy Bradshaw, general manager of EA’s Maxis label. “The similarities go well beyond any superficial resemblance. Zynga’s design choices, animations, visual arrangements and character motions and actions have been directly lifted from The Sims Social. The copying was so comprehensive that the two games are, to an uninitiated observer, largely indistinguishable.”

She further went on to explain that by taking a legal action against Zynga for the protection of its intellectual property, EA is hoping for the stand to protect the rights of other creative studios as well, studios that are unable to do it themselves because of limited resources.

Zynga, on the other hand, is convinced that it has not gone against the copyright principles and therefore does not stand guilty of infringement, while adding that the reaction of EA to its latest game has come off as a real disappointment.

The general counsel of Zynga Reggie Davis even retaliated to the allegation by stating that a lawsuit by EA comes off as a real surprise considering it recently launched ‘SimCity Social;’ a game that according to Zynga bears an uncanny resemblance to ‘CityVille.’

Zynga is clearly all fired up to fight the lawsuit and uphold the reputation of being the makers of entertaining, innovative and engaging social games for both browsers as well as mobile phone platforms.

Announced in June, ‘The Ville’ is the latest game in Zynga’s ‘ville’ franchise and has been described by the casual games powerhouse as a game that builds on all major innovation from its previous invest-and-express games, including ‘YoVille’ and ‘CityVille,’ while introducing a set of new and original social features and game mechanics.

While accusations of copyrights infringement is not something that Zynga has not faced before, it is the first time that it will go head-to-head with a gaming industry giant such as EA.

The gamers will be hoping for this feud to get settled as soon as possible so that the studios can get back to concentrating on delivering enjoyable experience to the hungry fans.