Alleged Rainbow Six Siege Copycat Gets Killed By Ubisoft Lawsuit

Last week Rainbow Six Siege developer Ubisoft filed a lawsuit against Google and Apple because of Area F2, a mobile free-to-play shooter developed by Alibaba and Ejoy. Area F2 has been taken down permanently, with refunds being issues to players who purchased items via microtransactions.

The notice of termination, shared by industry analyst Daniel Ahmad, stated that Area F2 would be taken offline yesterday, May 20. Although the notice makes no mention of Ubisoft and their lawsuit, the timing suggests Alibaba and Ejoy decided against trying to defend their product in court. Players who made purchases during the game's beta period can apply for refunds, either through the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, or third-party retailer.

Ubisoft pointed towards Area F2's user-interface and end match score screen as particularly egregious examples of the game's copyright infringement. The French publisher also noted that it had pre-emptively warned Apple and Google of the game before it filed its lawsuit, but that neither took the game down in response.