King.com Removes Pac-Avoid from Online Arcade After Clone Accusations

Developers of Candy Crush Saga, King.com, today removed Pac-Avoid from its online arcade.

We originally reported that developers of Scamperghost, Epic Shadow Entertainment, accused King.com of copying them with the release of Pac-Avoid. Epic Shadow took to their blog to explain how King.com cloned Scamperghost released in late 2009.

When speaking with Game Informer, a King.com representative spoke about the company's value in property protection. “King does not clone other peoples’ games. King believes that IP – both our own IP and that of others – is important and should be properly protected, "said a King.com representative. "Like any prudent company, we take all appropriate steps to protect our IP in a sensible and fair way. At the same time, we are respectful of the rights and IP of other developers.”

King.com claims they often conduct a "thorough search of other games in the marketplace" to avoid infringing trademarks. But Mathew Cox of Epic Shadow posted emails from Lars Jörnow of King.com, to show that Jörnow was well aware of Scamperghost in the marketplace.

To avoid any future conflicts, King.com removed Pac-Avoid from its online arcade.