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[IbizaPocholo]

Ubisoft Sues Apple, Google Over Alibaba’s Rainbow Six “Ripoff”

Ubisoft Entertainment SA sued Apple Inc. and Google LLC, accusing the companies of selling a ripoff of its popular video game “Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege.”

www.bloomberg.com

Ubisoft Entertainment SA sued Apple Inc. and Google LLC, accusing the companies of selling a ripoff of its popular video game “Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege.”

“Area F2,” created by Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd.’s Ejoy.com, is a “near carbon copy” of Rainbow Six: Siege, and that can’t be “seriously be disputed,” Ubisoft said in a complaint filed Friday in federal court in Los Angeles.

Rainbow Six: Siege, or R6S, has 55 million registered players around the world, according to Ubisoft’s copyright infringement lawsuit and is played by more than 3 million people every day. R6S also is played as a competitive “esport,” with professional and semi-professional teams competing for millions of dollars in prizes.

“R6S is among the most popular competitive multiplayer games in the world, and is among Ubisoft’s most valuable intellectual properties, the French company said. “Virtually every aspect of AF2 is copied from R6S, from the operator selection screen to the final scoring screen, and everything in between.”

Representatives of Google had no immediate comment on the lawsuit. Alibaba and Apple didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment, made after regular business hours.

The game is based on Clancy’s novel about a counter-terrorism unit 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.”

Alibaba acquired Ejoy in 2017 to increase its presence in online and mobile gaming. Ejoy started promoting Area F2 in the U.S. late last year through YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The game became available to the public for download on mobile phones and tablets last month, according to the complaint.

Ubisoft said it has notified Apple and Google that Area F2 is infringing its copyrights but the companies have refused to remove the game from the Google Play and Apple App stores.





Thanks mods for the title change

 

[Zambatoh]

..Okay. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see any stolen assets here.
The only thing I see is a derivative game based off another derivative game.
And if this can be sued to oblivion, then there are a lot of shooters that could be sued into oblivion.

 

[DoctaThompson]

Looks good to me

 

[JimboJones]

It's pretty shameless but Ubisoft kinda fucked up by not making a mobile version.

 

[Yoda]

Eh, Ubisoft tried to censor R6 for western audiences to prime it for entry into the Chinese market no too long ago. Now they cry foul that the Chinese market does what it's known best for (stealing IP). It's clearly a ripoff and shouldn't be allowed by any government which pretends to enforce copyright, but I really don't have any sympathy of Ubisoft.

 

[Mattyp]

Can't see any stolen assets here what's the issue? Or do Ubisoft own a copyright on tactical insertion/defence shooter.

 

[Solarstrike]

There's also countless copy-cat games on the App Store. Wtf Ubi. *Sigh*..Just someone let me know when Surgeon Simulation: Battlefield Edition releases

 

[Cleared_Hot]

Can't see any stolen assets here what's the issue? Or do Ubisoft own a copyright on tactical insertion/defence shooter.

Thing rappel bit was pretty blatant. I know rappels are an old school common game thing. But the way it's done here is pretty much identical. Other than that everything else made it look like a mobile PUBG ripoff honestly.

 

[Dargor]

Some lawyer from Ubi started worrying he would be fired for nothing working, made a google search to find something to sue over and found this.

 

[Yoshi]

Especially in overcrowded genres such as shooters, this degree of similarity does not appear that uncommon to me.

 

[The Cockatrice]

A chinese game copying a western game? Damn I'm shocked. Hopefully, Ubisoft wins. These half-ass attempts and always from chinese developers are out of hand these days on the mobile market.

 

[Scotty W]

Area F2? Sounds more like Alt F4!

 

[angelic]

In that case Nintendo should sue Ubi for the blatant rip off game Mario and the Rabbids.

 

[The Cockatrice]

In that case Nintendo should sue Ubi for the blatant rip off game Mario and the Rabbids.

Some of the posts above were eh but this is just fucking stupid. I do hope you're just trolling.

 

[hyperbertha]

China being China(ie creatively braindead) . Ubisoft finally makes a decent game and it gets ripped off to oblivion I can understand their frustration.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

Area F2: First CQB FPS on Mobile

A new realistic FPS experience on mobile! Shatter walls and get innovative approaches to attack!

www.areaf2.com

Area F2: First CQB FPS on Mobile

A new realistic FPS experience on mobile! Shatter walls and get innovative approaches to attack!

www.areaf2.com

 

[FranXico]

"Mobile companies conglamerate sues Ubisoft over the concept of radio tower".

 

[Optimistic Gamer]

"Mobile companies conglamerate sues Ubisoft over the concept of radio tower".

History suing AssCreed over misrepresentation.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

I don't think this rises to the level of infringement, and it kills me to say that, because I hate China.

Basically, they're taking the Gameloft approach of being just different enough that it's technically not stealing. Which... isn't Gameloft owned by the Ubisoft co-founder's brother or something? Oh, the irony.

 

[EverydayBeast]

All the military shooters look the same through that lens.

 

[diffusionx]

I don't think this rises to the level of infringement, and it kills me to say that, because I hate China.

Basically, they're taking the Gameloft approach of being just different enough that it's technically not stealing. Which... isn't Gameloft owned by the Ubisoft co-founder's brother or something? Oh, the irony.

This actually seems a lot closer than Gameloft stuff, but yea, I think they'll get away with it.

 

[jaysius]

If the Area F2 community was even a TINY bit less toxic, I'd honestly go there. Last night playing R6 Siege, I "accidentally" unknowningly picked someone elses desired pick in quick play, so they shot me dead at the start of the round. Next round someone else TK'D someone. Round after that, the other team TK'd one another. I mean you can get TK'd or just team damaged for the stupidest things in R6 Siege because of how toxic the community is.

 

[MiguelItUp]

Shame that stuff like this happens, even for Ubisoft, whom I don't care about at all. But suing Google and Apple just isn't the way. This feels like a huge waste of time. I mean, it's BEYOND similar in almost every way, sure. But unless they're using assets from the game in any way shape or form, they don't really have any leverage here.

I mean, Google and Apple don't have the ability to fully review every single app and game that hits their store. It's why you can browse them and find a PLETHORA of games and apps that are "EXTREMELY INFLUENCED" by other IPs. Some are INCREDIBLY blatant, and they're all from other countries. Sucks, but there isn't much that can be done. Especially if they're hardly even truely a company or team.

On one of the previous projects I worked on there was a mobile title that straight up used our assets. Our legal team reached out to them in more ways than one, and they never received a response so it just kind of went nowhere. We had players from our community telling us about it multiple times a day, and all we could do was say thanks for the report and our teams were on it.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

 

[Aion002]

Wait...

So Gameloft (founded and presided by Michel Guillemot (one of the founders of Ubi, brother of Yves Guillemot)) can Rip Off Halo and many other games...

But others can't do the same with them? Damnn...

 

[Neofire]

A chinese game copying a western game? Damn I'm shocked. Hopefully, Ubisoft wins. These half-ass attempts and always from chinese developers are out of hand these days on the mobile market.

Finally someone said it.

 

[VertigoOA]

I’m thinking they’re gonna get away with it. Hoping Ubisoft puts up a good fight at least. Plagiarism should not be rewarded.

I also assume that Ubisoft is now considered racist by many for fending off Chinese theft.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

 

[FeldMonster]

Shame that stuff like this happens, even for Ubisoft, whom I don't care about at all. But suing Google and Apple just isn't the way. This feels like a huge waste of time. I mean, it's BEYOND similar in almost every way, sure. But unless they're using assets from the game in any way shape or form, they don't really have any leverage here.

I mean, Google and Apple don't have the ability to fully review every single app and game that hits their store. It's why you can browse them and find a PLETHORA of games and apps that are "EXTREMELY INFLUENCED" by other IPs. Some are INCREDIBLY blatant, and they're all from other countries. Sucks, but there isn't much that can be done. Especially if they're hardly even truely a company or team.

On one of the previous projects I worked on there was a mobile title that straight up used our assets. Our legal team reached out to them in more ways than one, and they never received a response so it just kind of went nowhere. We had players from our community telling us about it multiple times a day, and all we could do was say thanks for the report and our teams were on it.

Obviously Ubisoft doesn't WANT to sue Apple or Google, but if they have already gone through the official channels, what else do you expect them to do? This is the best way to get their attention. And Ubisoft is large enough that Apple/Google will now pay attention to them.

The other possibility for Ubisoft, although seemingly counterintuitive, would be to simply buy the Area F2 IP/developer. Then they could either embrace it as their mobile version, or shut it down (either immediately, or once they release a true mobile version).

 

[Woo-Fu]

It's basically a carbon copy of Siege for mobile. Chinese companies do this all the time but you can't do anything about it because China's entire GNP is based on creating crappier versions of other countries innovations.

Going after the people who distribute for them though---since you can do that in a court outside of China that takes IP seriously---sounds like a potentially effective angle of attack.

A really interesting story from long ago is Donkey Kong vs. Crazy Kong. Nintendo paid Falcon to copy Donkey Kong, but only for Japan since they couldn't produce enough DK to meet worldwide demand. Once Crazy Kong showed up in America though the lawsuits started flying.