NEWS
by Mark Barley

Peter Moore: EA is "standing up for the industry" against Zynga in law suit


According to EA's COO Peter Moore, his company is "standing up for the industry" with their law suit against Zynga for copyright infringement.

By this he means EA has the resources available to them that other smaller developers and publishers do not, and are willing to do what's necessary to preserve their rights. The law suit was filed by EA against fellow social games powerhouse Zynga for the latter's production of the game The Ville - which was developed under former EA boss John Shappert. EA claims The Ville bears too much resemblance to their popular social offering The Sims Social. However, according to Moore, this law suit is about more than just one game.

Speaking with Eurogamer at Gamescom last week, Moore stated;
“When we looked at TheVille we felt somewhat affronted by what we saw as copyright infringement. We also feel from an industry perspective that a number of these things have happened before related to Zynga, but there’s never been a company that has the wherewithal and the resources to take it to the next level. We do."

“So, we’re defending our Maxis studio, and we’re standing up for the industry.”
Moore then spoke on how games can take many years and exist in the creative minds of the developers.
“And when you see somebody, quite frankly, take months replicating what you’ve done, you’re upset. We were upset. We were upset for Maxis,” he said.

“And we’ve seen enough of it from an industry perspective, with smaller publishers and developers who also put their hands up and said, this is not right, but I don’t know what to do about it. We do.”
Moore then went on to say that the industry has sent "quiet" messages of support to EA, which he believes is a good sign.

It's no small secret that Zynga has been in a bit of financial trouble lately and this law suit can only confound things for them.

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