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EA and Zynga settle The Ville lawsuits
Electronic Arts and Zynga have settled their legal kerfuffle, which began when the former sued the social games giant for what it called a "clear violation" of copyright laws over similarities between games. Details on the settlement are lacking, but InsideSocialGames has a statement from Zynga that it has resolved its respective claims with EA and "reached a settlement" in the Northern District of California.The legal drama kicked off last August when EA sued Zynga over the similarities between Zynga's recently released The Ville and EA's The Sims Social. The evidence against Zynga was stacked pretty high. This was the first time a giant like EA had stepped into the ring to take on the culture of cloning, which Zynga had been accused of in the past.A month later, Zynga filed a counterclaim against EA over the similarities between CityVille and SimCity Social. We'll update with settlement terms when he receive them.
Zynga shutters Boston, UK and Japan studios, lays off 5% of full-time staff
While Apple was busy introducing new devices and updating its existing ones this morning, Facebook game creator Zynga was apparently relieving itself of several studios worth of employees. Several reports on Twitter indicate that Zynga is cutting its Boston, Austin, and Chicago studios; our colleagues at Joystiq spoke with a Zynga Austin employee who confirmed at least two of his location's teams were let go (The Ville and Zynga Bingo teams). Further reports on The Verge indicate that "more than 100" employees were let go as a result of the Austin layoffs. TechCrunch is reporting the full shut down of Zynga's Boston studio, which was apparently working on an unannounced title before being closed. The company's San Francisco location -- its headquarters -- has yet to be affected, nor have employees heard anything from upper management. Notoriously, Austin-developed The Ville is the root of an ongoing lawsuit between game publishing giant Electronic Arts, wherein EA alleges The Ville too closely resembles its own Facebook game, The Sims Social. Beyond the lawsuit, Zynga's faced declining stock value since its IPO, and the $200 million purchase of Draw Something developer OMGPOP remains a sticking point for investors. The company is slated to release its quarterly earnings tomorrow, which are expected to be down for another quarter. We reached out to the company for comment, but have yet to hear back as of publishing. Update: Zynga confirmed layoffs at its Austin studio, as well as outlining closures at its Boston, Japan, and UK locations. A full letter from CEO Mark Pincus to employees was released by Zynga detailing the layoffs and closures, which we've added below. The company also says it's closing 13 of its games, and "significantly reducing" its investment in The Ville.
Zynga files counterclaim against EA, EA calls it 'predictable subterfuge'
Zynga has officially responded to EA's recent lawsuit over its claims of a "clear violation" of copyright regarding The Ville. General Counsel for Zynga Reggie Davis issued the following statement:"Today we responded to EA's claims which we believe have no merit. We also filed a counterclaim which addresses actions by EA we believe to be anticompetitive and unlawful business practices, including legal threats and demands for no-hire agreements. We look forward to getting back to focusing all our efforts on delighting our players."Reached for comment, EA spokesman John Reseburg told Joystiq, "This is a predictable subterfuge aimed at diverting attention from Zynga's persistent plagiarism of other artists and studios. Zynga would be better served trying to hold onto the shrinking number of employees they've got, rather than suing to acquire more."
Highlights from EA's lawsuit against Zynga
Earlier today, EA announced it had filed a lawsuit against Zynga over The Ville for what it deemed a "clear violation" of copyright laws. Having reviewed the court documents, here are some of the highlights from EA's claims: "As The Sims Social increased in popularity and visibility, Zynga turned to its well- known competitive playbook: "Steal someone else's game. Change its name,"1 then cross- promote the Zynga clone to its extensive user base." "Zynga's The Ville, released on June 26, 2012, is an unmistakable copy of EA's The Sims Social. Not only does The Ville blatantly mimic the entire framework and style of gameplay in The Sims Social, but it so closely copies the original, creative expression and unique elements of The Sims Social - i.e., the animation sequences, visual arrangements, characters' motions and actions, and other unique audio-visual elements - that the two games are nearly indistinguishable."EA v Zynga Complaint Final
EA sues Zynga over 'The 'Ville' [update: Zynga responds]
EA has filed a lawsuit against Zynga over The Ville, alleging that the social games giant is "in clear violation" of copyright laws."The legal reasons are solid. But for creative teams who feel that their hard work and imaginations have been ripped off, there's obviously an emotional element too," wrote Maxis general manager Lucy Bradshaw. "As outlined in our complaint, 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.""This is a case of principle. Maxis isn't the first studio to claim that Zynga copied its creative product. But we are the studio that has the financial and corporate resources to stand up and do something about it. Infringing a developer's copyright is not an acceptable practice in game development. By calling Zynga out on this illegal practice, we hope to have a secondary effect of protecting the rights of other creative studios who don't have the resources to protect themselves."Update 2: You can now read the complaint in full.Update: Zynga's full statement after the break.
The Ville is latest from Zynga, spiritual successor to YoVille
Zynga's newest addition to the 'ville' family is The Ville. The company describes it as the "culmination of years of experience developing social games while delivering on innovation" in FarmVille, FrontierVille, CityVille, CastleVille, and YoVille.The premise of The Ville is to build the home of your dreams and decorate it, preferably by spending real money on virtual goods. The game is also taking on the globe and will be available in 15 languages: English, Danish, Dutch, German, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and traditional Chinese."With The Ville, we're taking social to a whole new level," said Mark Skaggs, senior VP of product development at Zynga. "Your friends are active participants on your game board, and the interactions, relationships and choices you make together create a truly unique game experience."Or just think of it as a browser-based multiplayer version of The Sims.%Gallery-159158%
