Copy, paste, gain traction, get sued and sue others. This seems to be the social gaming lifecycle these days. Look at Zynga. It was sued for copyright infringement by Psycho Monkey and Mob Wars. The latter case was only recently settled, but in the meantime, Zynga has turned around and filed 22 copyright and trademark lawsuits against other developers. As it happens, offense is better than defense, so it makes sense to start attacking others, particularly when you’re big, powerful and can afford pricey counsel. In just July ‘09 Zynga filed 14 suits.
Truth is, the barrier to entry in this industry is so low that almost everyone can start a social gaming studio. However, success is not quite around the corner. If you want to become rich, you’ll have to do what rich people do. Make viral, easily monetizable games. And this is where all the evil starts. Copy, paste iterate…. until you make it viral. Acquire users. Gain traction. Become popular. And just as you start thinking you’ve finally made it, someone else is around the corner to blackmail you for a wallet share. So you pay out big bucks. To compensate the loss, you sue others, hoping that you can recover the damage…
Tags: Facebook, lawsuit, litigation, social gaming, zynga