Ubisoft has begun legal proceedings against both Apple and Google for making available a free to play “carbon copy” of Rainbow Six: Siege called Area F2 on their stores. The game has been developed by Ejoy, a subsidiary of Alibaba, had as been available to download since April 28th. Ubisoft has stated in a court filing that Area F2 has copied pretty much every aspect of Rainbow Six: Siege and repackaged it for the mobile title. You can have a look at the Area F2 trailer below and decide if you think Ubisoft has a legitimate case.
Area F2’s description reads:
In Area F2, the first Close-Quarters Battle (AKA CQB) shooting game on mobile, players fight over ultra-realistic environments as attacker and defender, playing as one of a wide selection of agents, each with own their special ability. All roofs and walls can be reinforced or destroyed, challenging players’ skills and tactics as every wall may become a potential entry point.
Players can choose from over 20 different agents that have their own gadgets including trip mines, and crossbow bolts that are explosive. Environments are destructible too but can be reinforced. You can see why Ubisoft is claiming copyright infringement and filing to have the game removed from digital storefronts, though it will be up to the courts to rule on this.
In the filing Ubisoft wrote:
“R6S is among the most popular competitive multiplayer games in the world, and is among Ubisoft’s most valuable intellectual properties. Virtually every aspect of AF2 is copied from R6S, from the operator selection screen to the final scoring screen, and everything in between.”
Apparently, Ubisoft had raised the issue with both Apple and Google regarding copyright infringements in Area F2, but neither company acted on those complaints. Even now, Area F2 is available on both of the app stores. According to the Google Play app, Area F2 has been downloaded over 5 million times on Android and sits at a rating of 4 stars. The rating on the Apple App store is 3.9 so it seems to be proving quite popular with mobile gamers.
Source: Bloomberg
WaxBull
A big R6S fan and can easily see how F2 copied it. With those numbers (downloads) on the Play Store and App Store maybe Ubisoft should put any compensation it receives into a mobile port of Siege. PUBG and Fortnite do well on mobile.
Galgomite
There ought to be some penalty for stealing another game, but when it’s reprogrammed and using no original assets I doubt there’s a case. Copied game ideas are a video game tradition.