In a move that surprised few gamers who have played both The Sims Social and The Ville, Electronic Arts suedZynga Friday — charging that the latter was a blatant copy of the former.
EA didn’t mince words, either. “The copying was so comprehensive that the two games are, to an uninitiated observer, largely indistinguishable,” said Lucy Bradshaw, General Manager of Maxis (the EA subsidiary that produces all Sims games). “Zynga’s design choices, animations, visual arrangements and character motions and actions have been directly lifted from The Sims Social … scores of media and bloggers have commented on the blatant mimicry.” (Indeed, we have.)
We’ve heard from sources inside Zynga that the mimicry was obvious to all there when The Ville was launched, too, and led to something of a crisis of confidence within the company. Still, Zynga put its game face on.
“It’s unfortunate that EA thought that this was an appropriate response to our game, and clearly demonstrates a lack of understanding of basic copyright principles,” said Zynga general counsel Reggie Davis in a statement. And for an audacious encore, he added: “It’s also ironic that EA brings this suit shortly after launching SimCity Social which bears an uncanny resemblance to Zynga’s CityVille game.”
Cue howls of laughter from anyone with basic knowledge of gaming history. Sim City is one of the oldest franchises in the world of digital games. The original, by industry legend Will Wright, dates back to 1989 — when Zynga CEO Mark Pincus was just entering business school.
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