A Better Cross Game Promotion

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Yesterday Zynga began a cross game promotion with their latest game Hidden Chronicles (1). It's hasn't been smooth going because many players never got the popup or they closed it out. I admit that I really enjoy hidden object games and secretly wanted to continue after I reached Level 5. The problem is I can't justify spending time playing other games because Mafia Wars is too time consuming. It would be awesome if Zynga would offer daily bonuses through Hidden Chronicles that would benefit us in Mafia Wars. It could look something like the image below.

This concept worked great with Treasure Island and Zynga Poker over a year and a half ago (1), (2) . Most of us went to both games everyday to get our stamina refills.

It's a well known fact that Zynga rarely comes up with original or unique games. Mafia Was was an obvious knock off of Mob Wars and Zynga was sued by it's creator, David Maestri, for copyright infringement. It is rumored that Maestri received 7-9 million dollars from Zynga in the settlement (1). Hidden Chronicles looks a lot like the game Adventure Chronicles by Oberon (1).

The game icons have a similar color scheme.

In addition to the similar name and logo, the main characters are both females with short brunette hair and  glasses.

The very first scene in both games is a Library.

Adventure Chronicles

Hidden Chronicles

Both games have popups along the way with messages from characters. There are just too many similarities in these games not to notice. I could keep going but I think you get the point. Oberon created Adventure Chronicles in 2008. I wonder if they have any grounds for copyright infringement?

Adventure Chronicles

Hidden Chronicles

Oberon created Adventure Chronicles in 2008. I wonder if they have any grounds for copyright infringement?Zynga has no problems suing other gaming companies for doing the same thing. Last summer, they sued the the Brazilian gaming company Vostu (1) . Vostu pointed out that Zynga was not the first to come up with the CityVille game idea and provided a timeline including their version as well as Zynga's.  A settlement was made in December of last year and Vostu changed some aspects of their games and paid Zynga an undisclosed amount (1). 

(image provided by TechCrunch)

Article written by Jennifer Patterson, Creator of the MW Loot Lady Blog, The Mafia Wars Loot Lady Facebook Fan Page and Co-Host of The Informant Podcast. All material is protected by copyright law