First of all we’d like to give a big welcome to everyone who’s joined our game over the past week. We’re touched that so many of you have chosen Mob Wars: La Cosa Nostra as your new Mafia Wars alternative after Zynga announced they’d be shutting down their game by June 6th this year.

From looking at some fan Facebook groups and comments over the weekend, it looks like there’s some confusion about how the games differ and which companies run what, so we thought we’d put up a short post to see if there’s any insight we can share.

Back in 2008 we opened up shop as a small, indie game studio here in Victoria, BC. Around the same time, a young, independent developer named Dave Maestri built the original Mob Wars game on Facebook. When that became a major success, a number of competitors built games such as Mafia Wars, and at one point there was a dispute between Dave Maestri and Zynga over similarities between the two games. That case was settled out of court in 2009, and as far as we know there haven’t been any followups since. We at Kano/Apps weren’t involved at all with that suit or either of the two games.

That same year however, we licensed the Mob Wars name from Dave Maestri and made Mob Wars: La Cosa Nostra, the official sequel. Our game has a number of different design changes and innovations that we think make it fun and unique, and as a small studio (~20 people!) we’re committed to keeping it current and fun for a long, long time. In fact, we’re looking to bring our suite of games to even more people across more platforms. A mobile version of Mob Wars: LCN is currently available on iOS, with the Android version coming out on Google Play very soon.

We’re not sure why Zynga would choose to shut down a popular game like Mafia Wars. The truth is neither Kano/Apps or our game LCN was involved in the process that led to that decision. What we can tell you is that we’re extremely proud that some of you have settled in the world of Mob Wars: LCN, and that we and the community will do our best to help you feel welcome.

You can check out our official forums for help and discussion about all our games, or contact us through our support site if you have any questions or concerns, particularly about claiming your free gift as a new member (we're a little backlogged right now, but catching up fast!) If you’d like to try any other of our Facebook and mobile games, you can check those out at the links below — these links will also award the free gift in each of our other games.

Claim your free gift on Mob Wars: LCN for Facebook!

Claim your free gift on Zombie Slayer for Facebook
Claim your free gift on Viking Clan for Facebook
Claim your free gift on Pirate Clan for Facebook

Don’t forget to look for the Mob Wars: LCN app on the Apple App Store, and the Pirate Clan app on both the App Store and Google Play once you’ve collected your free gift through Facebook!