Bunny Combat Game removed from AppStore

The source code of Lugaru HD, a combat game involving a bunny is made available under the General Public License (GPL) by Wolfire. Though the source code of the game is made available under an open source license, the rights with respect to the characters, graphics, audio and other aspects of the game are held by Wolfire, which sells the game package for 9.99 dollars. Lugaru was recently made available for download by an unknown person on the Mac AppStore for just 0.99 dollars. After receiving a complaint from Wolfire, the infringing game has recently been removed from the AppStore and is no longer available.

The business model followed by Wolfire is a common strategy followed by games companies. The strategy involves providing the source code of the game in order to allow utilization of the code for future development under a stringent license such as GPL and retaining copyrights with respect to interfaces, video, audio, characters and so on. This allows a company to encourage the OSS community to work on the functional elements of the game and thereby develop new versions and features. As the company retains rights over interfaces, characters and so on, the same game cannot be easily developed and marketed by another person and the company can therefore sell the combined game under a proprietary license.

Image from www.wolfire.com

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