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EA sues Zynga for copyright infrigement, cites Tiny Tower
EA has dropped a lawsuit on Zynga's doorstep, claiming that one of Zynga's latest Facebook games, called The Ville, is essentially an infringing copy of EA's popular The Sims. You can read through the entire complaint at Scribd. What's most interesting about this whole case -- other than two companies fussing over whose millions are whose -- is that EA is casting itself as the defender of innovation for casual and social gaming. Forty-seven points into the complaint, EA brings up the Tiny Tower/Dream Tower debacle, in which Zynga released a game very similar to Nimblebit's popular Tiny Tower called Dream Tower. In EA's post about the lawsuit, the general manager of EA's Maxis Studio (creators of The Sims Social) says that "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." Now, whether any other studios allegedly copied by Zynga have the resources to "stand up and do something about it" might still be in question. But reading through the complaint, it's more than apparent that EA isn't going after Zynga just for themselves -- they're trying to establish a repeated pattern of Zynga's infringement. And given Zynga's stock troubles lately, a big lawsuit like this is probably the last thing the company needs. It'll be very interesting to see how this litigation moves forward. #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Mike Schramm08.03.2012
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
Alexander Sliwinski08.03.2012
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.
Alexander Sliwinski08.03.2012
Zynga COO Schappert no longer in charge of games
Former Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Live and former Electronic Arts COO John Schappert is now the former guy in charge of games at Zynga. Schappert, who holds the position of Chief Operating Officer at Zynga, was stripped of his role overseeing game development, but is still with the company."We can confirm that in order to unify our company around a multiplatform approach, we reorganized our teams in July to integrate web and mobile groups," a Zynga spokesperson told the WSJ. "Our players expect their favorite games on every platform and we want to unlock everyone in the company to continue moving quickly against the multi platform opportunity."Now is not a good time for Zynga between lowered financial forecasts, awkwardly desperate business propositions and, as of this week, an insider trading lawsuit. The company's stock has dropped 70 percent from its initial price of $10 in just the last eight months.
Alexander Sliwinski08.01.2012
Zynga hit with insider trading lawsuit as execs cash out before crash
Zynga has been hit with the first of five expected lawsuits alleging a handful of top executives and investors engaged in insider trading – including CEO Marc Pincus and Google. Following Zynga's IPO in December, employees and investors were "locked up," unable to sell their shares until May 28. Technically. A group of top executives and shareholders hired underwriters to manage the sale of their shares, creating a loophole that allowed them to sell their stock at $12.By May 28, when initial investors were legally allowed to sell their shares, Zynga stock had fallen to $6. Yesterday, it struck $3. Locked up investors had no opportunity to sell their shares at the same price as the top brass, and the insiders that did "cashed out at exactly the right time," Business Insider's Henry Blodget writes.
Jessica Conditt07.31.2012
Zynga betting on real money-based gambling in games, starting in 2013
Zynga's getting into real money gambling in the first half of 2013, says CEO Mark Pincus. The company head announced as much during an investor call yesterday; he wasn't able to nail down where the service will launch first, as it'll need to pass various online gambling reviews before being allowed to go live. One thing's for sure: it's unlikely to launch in the US, as gambling is only allowed in a handful of US States.It stands to reason that the service will be implemented through games like, say, Zynga Poker, though Pincus wasn't saying anything concrete. Though "the first real-money gambling products are ready," it's unclear what they'll entail. Pincus called mobile games "a big opportunity," so we may see Zynga move on that first.And no, we refuse to entertain the idea that real money will be used to gamble on things like FarmVille. That is not a reality we are okay with.
Ben Gilbert07.26.2012
Zynga lowers 2012 outlook after reporting $22.8M loss for Q2
Despite experiencing stronger revenues in Q2 2012 than in Q2 2011, Zynga reported a $22.8 million net loss for the quarter and lowered its outlook for the rest of the year to adjust for "delays in launching new games, a faster decline in existing web games due in part to a more challenging environment on the Facebook web platform, and reduced expectations for Draw Something."The social megalith reported revenue income of $332.4 million for the period, up 16 percent over the same period last year, which sounds good until you get to the company's net loss of $22.8 million -- compare that with the $1.3 million in profit reported in Q2 2011.Addressing investors, Zynga CEO and founder Mark Pincus lauded his company's successful launch of Bubble Safari, as well as The Ville's increasing popularity. "We also faced new short-term challenges which led to a sequential decline in bookings," Pincus said. "Despite this, we're optimistic about the long-term growth prospects on mobile where we have a window of opportunity to drive the same kind of social gaming revolution that we enabled on the web."Zynga's stock fell during trading as a result of its lowered outlook for the rest of 2012, hitting a low of $4.88 per share before closing the day up at $5.08 a share.
Jordan Mallory07.25.2012
Richard Garriott's Portalarium raises $7 million in funding
Richard Garriott designed Ultima Online and Tabula Rasa, and he has also been to outer space. This has apparently convinced several investors that funding his new company Portalarium is a sound decision, as it was recently announced that Portalarium has secured roughly $7 million in investment capital. The money is being pushed into the final stages of development on the company's first title, Ultimate Collector, which is slated for release later this summer on Facebook, mobile, and browser-based platforms. Some of the funds are also earmarked for development on the company's second game, alternately known as both Ultimate RPG and New Britannia, which does not yet have a release window. The chief investment firm was London-based m8 Capital, but several other sources also contribued to the groundswell of support, including Richard Garriott himself. Last month, the company announced that it will be working through the Zynga Platform Partners program to publish Ultimate Collector.
Eliot Lefebvre07.10.2012
The Dark Meadow dev releasing action game 'Horn' with Zynga
Phosphor Games, developer of the atmospheric The Dark Meadow, will launch its new game Horn with Zynga as publisher. Horn is a third-person action game that at first glance draws some inspiration from Team Ico games, but is said to be loosely based on the "Old English tales of King Horn."Horn has been announced for iOS, but don't be surprised to see it make its way to other mobile platforms in time (it was just showcased on Google's Nexus 7 tablet today during a press conference). Play time is pegged at 10 hours, and will be paired with a soundtrack by Journey's Austin Wintory. There is currently neither a release date nor price.%Gallery-159243%
Alexander Sliwinski06.27.2012
Zynga has 22 million daily active mobile users, announces partner program
Social gaming giant Zynga is holding a press conference called Zynga Unleashed in San Francisco today, and while much of the news out of that conference is about the company's successful Facebook and social game business, Zynga has a huge interest and following in mobile games as well. The company announced that it's hit 22 million daily active users on mobile (that's users logging in daily, across iOS and Android, to Zynga mobile games), and that it has a number of new titles coming out soon. Matching with Friends will add to the growing Words with Friends brand (which Zynga acquired by picking up an iOS developer), and Draw Something, also acquired by Zynga, is just about to hit its 10 billionth drawing. Zynga has announced a partner program for other mobile developers. It says that it has acquired a massive audience on mobile, and this program will be used to share that audience with other developers (for a fair price, I'm sure). Atari is the first big named signed up to the partner program, and Dark Meadow devs Phosphor Games and former Rare devs turned indie studio Crash Lab are also on the list. Elsewhere at the conference, Zynga announced a new version of FarmVille and a new Sims-like title called simply The Ville, but there was no mention of bringing these to a mobile platform anytime soon. We'll see.
Mike Schramm06.26.2012
Farmville 2 features 3D graphics, farming
Zynga is working on Farmville 2, a follow-up to its most successful title of all time, Farmville, the company announced at Zynga Unleashed today. Farmville 2 is Zynga's first 3D game, a short teaser demonstrated.
Jessica Conditt06.26.2012The 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%
Alexander Sliwinski06.26.2012
Zynga adds Majesco, 50 Cubes and Portalarium to partner program
At its ongoing Zynga Unleashed event in San Francisco, the social media game giant revealed three new partners: Majesco, 50 Cubes, and Portalarium.Majesco's current crop of top properties include the Zumba Fitness franchise and Cooking Mama. 50 Cubes currently features three titles on its website, including the "Facebook top fashion game for 2011" Mall World. Portalarium, which was founded by Ultima series creator and RPG legend Richard Garriott in 2009, recently launched a casual game based on garage sales, and is working on a project the company says will return Garriott to his RPG roots.At its conference, Zynga also highlighted three partners it announced during GDC 2012: Konami, Playdemic, and Rebellion.
Xav de Matos06.26.2012
Zynga adding real-time multiplayer to its games, starting with Bubble Safari
Zynga is introducing real-time multiplayer to its games through zynga.com, starting today with Bubble Safari. Booting up Bubble Safari allows players to enter a live match with four other people, friends and strangers alike. Each multiplayer match runs for 90 seconds, a time that can be easily changed in the backend, Zynga announced at its conference today.Bubble Safari multiplayer will also incorporate in-game group chat.Real-time multiplayer will be available in all games in the new Zynga With Friends network from here on out. This is not to be confused with the Zynga With Friends studio, formerly Newtoy, which produces titles such as Words With Friends and Hanging With Friends. The network has 290 million users and will soon replace zynga.com on the web and mobile with more social features and an inbox function.
Jessica Conditt06.26.2012
Zynga Slots launches for iOS
You know how heroin addicts can go to methadone clinics to stave off cravings? Well, Zynga's new iOS app is kinda like that, but for Reno grannies that blow their Social Security benefits on the one armed bandit.Zynga Slots is now available for free on the App Store, touting various improvements over real-world slots, such as the fact that losing your life's savings is dramatically less probable. Players can invite their friends in true Zynga fashion, which increases the Jackpot payout of their own machines. The more you play, the higher you level, which in turn unlocks Zynga-themed machines with higher betting limits and rewards.
Jordan Mallory06.17.2012
Draw Something game show pilot coming to CBS
CBS will team up with Zynga to produce a pilot for a primetime gameshow based on the mobile game Draw Something. CBS beat a number of other networks in a bidding war to take on the Sony Pictures Television, Embassy Row, and Ryan Seacrest Productions project.Ryan Seacrest, Michael Davies, and RSP CEO Adam Sher are teaming up as executive producers on the project. The show has players and celebrities use their drawing skills to win money. Seacrest's website added that "viewers at home will also be able play along and compete with for prizes using phones and tablets, ushering in a new era in game show viewing."Seacrest is not anticipated to be the host of the show, according to Variety.
Mike Suszek06.16.2012
Zynga CEO Mark Pincus says 'no thanks' to console gaming, isn't worried about a life detached from Facebook
Zynga CEO and founder Mark Pincus just took the stage here at D10, and in a wide-ranging interview with Kara Swisher, he sidestepped conversation about Words With Friends and Farmville long enough to touch on the murky world of console gaming. In a bid to quell any potential surprises at E3 next month, Mark said outrightly that his company is not interested in getting into the console world. "We're aiming for you," he said while pointing at Swisher. "We're going after the mainstream market. There's too much friction [in the console world]." He also made clear that he tries to not look too far ahead of where the world really is. When talking about the undeniable shift to mobile, he made clear that there's still a huge amount of desktop traffic on Zynga's games -- "lots of people play while bored on conference calls at work," he quipped. It's an interesting viewpoint in a world where PSN and Xbox Live Arcade has given independent developers all new distribution platforms to reach users, but it also highlights the outfit's intrinsic attachment to Facebook in particular.
Darren Murph05.30.2012
AMEX and Zynga team up for themed card, replace cash back with FarmVille rewards
Have you ever judged a friend's financial savvy based on the rewards yield of the cards in their wallet? Now you won't have a choice. For those of you that abhor free flights, detest comped hotel rooms and net severe displeasure from earning cash back, AMEX may finally have your plastic match. It's called the Zynga Serve Rewards card -- yes, the same Zynga that's behind time-sink cash cows like FarmVille, CityVille and CastleVille (?!) -- and it enables you to accrue "Zynga Farm Cash," which as you might imagine provides no financial gratification in the physical world. "FarmVille players now have the ability to plant an interactive Serve Money Tree in their Farms which will give them the ability to level up in game and earn Zynga Farm Cash for virtual awards redemption." We can't make this stuff up. The co-branded prepaid card is tied to a US currency-filled bank account, debit or credit card, and rewards will be assigned for your first five purchases of $25 -- at launch, with further incentives to come later this year. On top of that limitation, there's also a fairly outrageous fee structure (which effectively translates to 2.9 percent of each transaction when the account is funded with another credit card), detailed in full at the source link. Well, at least the card is colorful. Go tell that "Serve Money Tree" that water's on the way!
Zach Honig05.22.2012
Zynga shares close at record low following lackluster Facebook IPO
Facebook went public yesterday, and its unexpectedly less-than-stellar performance on the trading floor has had powerful ramifications for its social soul sister Zynga, which finished the day's trading at a record low of $7.16 a share.It's possible that Facebook's unimpressive IPO, closing out Friday at $38.23 a share – four dollars less than its $42.05 opening price – caused Zynga's value to drop in tandem, as the two platforms are inexorably intertwined in the public mindset. It's also possible that Zynga share holders jumped ship in favor of that new Facebook hotness, no longer having to settle for social second best. Regardless, the severe downturn in value lead to two trading halts on Zynga shares over the course of the day; once after reaching $7.17 a share, and once again after a slight increase in market value. Despite this, share values eventually dropped to as little as $6.93 before finally settling at $7.16.
Jordan Mallory05.19.2012
Zynga sues French publisher Kojobo over 'PyramidVille'
In its continuing efforts to secure unwavering dominion over the suffix "ville," Zynga has filed suit against French publisher Kojobo over the name of its strikingly familiar-looking Facebook game PyramidVille.As you'd imagine, the complaint has a hell of a lot to do with Kojobo's usage of "ville," with Zynga arguing that "Facebook users are likely to believe, erroneously, that PyramidVille is a member of Zynga's 'ville Family of Games," according to the complaint. Zynga hopes that its aggressive promotion of Farmville and Castleville will outweigh the fact that it doesn't actually own a trademark on the suffix."Given Kojobo's refusal to change their game name, legal action was necessary to defend our famous marks and prevent player confusion," Zynga said in a statement to Reuters. The San Francisco-based publisher seeks damages totaling three times the amount of profit accrued by PyramidVille since its release in 2011.
Jordan Mallory05.12.2012