Zynga accused Disney of attempting to steal its "secret sauce" after the company acquired Playdom, a social games competitor, as well as allegedly hiring ex-Zynga staff.

 

The lawsuit accused Playdom of hiring several Zynga staff and convincing them to hand over sensitive information, allegedly in the form of Zynga's 'Playbook', a document containing the game makers so-called "secret sauce".

 

Zynga said the 'Playbook' is basically a 'how-to' manual that guides the company when developing games to fit to the social networking platform.

 

The lawsuit was eventually settled for an undisclosed amount favouring Zynga. The company made the following statement to Edge, "Zynga is extremely pleased with the final resolution of its trade secret suit against Playdom and various individuals. The settlement reflects the very serious nature of the conduct involved, as reflected by the preliminary injunction, restraining orders, and contempt order issued by the Santa Clara (County, Calif.) Superior Court."

 

It closed off saying, "we have great respect for Disney and are thankful that following its acquisition of Playdom, Disney resolved the matter to our satisfaction."

 

Seems Zynga really is playing king of the hill as far as social gaming goes, the company still dominates the most popular games on Facebook, and it seems it may continue to do so for quite some time.