Zynga countersues Electronic Arts

San Francisco: Zynga Inc, the biggest developer of games played on Facebook Inc, countersued Electronic Arts Inc, alleging unfair competition.

EA, the second-largest US video-game maker, sued Zynga August 3, claiming Zynga’s “The Ville” video game infringed copyrights for “The Sims Social,” an EA game that runs on social-media site Facebook. Zynga on Friday filed counterclaims in federal court in San Francisco.

“The Sims Social,” released in August 2011, has generated more than $50 million in revenue and averaged about 3 million daily users in the past month, Frank Gibeau, president of Electronic Arts Labels, said on a post-earnings conference call on July 31.

Zynga, based in San Francisco, said in an August 3 e-mail that “The Ville” builds on its earlier games and Reggie Davis, the company’s general counsel, alleged that the recently released EA game “SimCity Social” had “an uncanny resemblance” to Zynga’s “CityVille” game.

Zynga has 274 million monthly users on Facebook while Redwood City, California-based Electronic Arts has 53 million players, according to website AppData. Activision Blizzard Inc, maker of “World of Warcraft,” is the largest US video-game maker.