Ubisoft has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Apple and Google for “willfully” selling a “near carbon copy” game of Rainbow Six Siege.
The game in question is called Area F2, or AF2, and was developed by Ejoy, a Hong Kong-based developer that was acquired by Alibaba in 2017 as a push into mobile and online gaming. Ubisoft accuses that AF2 features a ton of similarities with Rainbow Six Siege and “virtually every aspect” has been copied — without authorization — from the critically acclaimed tactical shooter.
The court documents state that AF2 uses the same weapons and attachments, gadgets and equipment, operators, user interfaces, sound effects, selection and scoring screens, layouts and maps, and everything in-between. The court documents even go as far to state that the advertising materials being used for AF2 are similar to Rainbow Six Siege as well.
The combination and collection of all of these similarities has resulted in a game that shares the exact same look and feel of R6S and to an ordinary observer is nearly indistinguishable from R6S.
Ubisoft notes that both Apple and Google were notified prior about the copyright infringement but the companies “refused” to remove the Rainbow Six Siege clone from the App Store and Play Store.
Google and Apple instead decided that it would be more profitable to collect their revenue share from AF2 and continue their unlawful distribution.
Ubisoft now seeks Apple and Google to immediately remove AF2 from all marketplaces and stores, to provide an accounting of all product sales for AF2, to submit to actual and statutory damages, and to pay the involved attorney fees.
Rainbow Six Siege is one of eleven games from Ubisoft that surpassed more than 10 million copies sold within the current console generation. According to an earnings report for the 2020 fiscal period, the player-count has crossed 60 million players, an increment of 5 million since the last quarter. Rainbow Six Siege also saw a sharp increase in the number of player-sessions in the last year, and continues to deliver success at all fronts with a rise in player spending through microtransactions for cosmetics and seasonal passes.
Rainbow Six Siege is now preparing for its next seasonal update. Operation Steel Wave is expected to feature two new playable operators from Norway and South Africa, a rework of the House map, a series of balances, and possibly other tweaks and adjustments.
