Ubisoft has filed a lawsuit against Apple and Google for what it says is a “near carbon copy” of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege currently being sold for iOS and Android smart devices.
Filing the complaint on Friday 15th May in Los Angeles, California, Ubisoft said it had notified Apple and Google that the mobile game Area F2 is infringing upon the copyright of its tentpole shooter franchise, but says the companies have refused to remove the game from their respective digital marketplaces, the App Store and Google Play.
Ubisoft sues Apple & Google
According to Bloomberg, Ubisoft insists that the similarities are so great they cannot “seriously be disputed” and “Ubisoft’s competitors are constantly looking for ways to piggyback on R6S’s popularity and to capture the attention, and money, of R6S players”.
Area F2 – which went on sale last month – describes itself on its storefronts as “the first Close-Quarters Battle shooting game on mobile” and enables players to fight “over ultra-realistic environments as attacker and defender, playing as one of a wide selection of agents, each with [their own] special ability”. It also states that “all roofs and walls can be reinforced or destroyed, challenging players’ skills and tactics as every wall may become a potential entry point”.
“R6S is among the most popular competitive multiplayer games in the world, and is among Ubisoft’s most valuable intellectual properties, Ubisoft said. “Virtually every aspect of AF2 is copied from R6S, from the operator selection screen to the final scoring screen, and everything in between.”
At the time of writing, neither Google nor Apple responded to request for comment from Bloomberg, nor has Area F2’s developer, Alibaba.
Not the first case
China has made many clones of games riding on trends in the western market. There hasn’t been much avenues of redress due to China’s regulations.