Papaya Gaming Dismisses Bot-Use Allegations in Skillz Lawsuit

Earlier this year, Skillz, the leading mobile games platform that offers skill-based and fair games, filed a lawsuit against Papaya Gaming, a competitor company also operating in the skill games market. In its lawsuit, filed with the New York Southern District Court in March, Skillz claimed that its rival misled its customers by promoting player-versus-player games but in reality, offered player-versus-bot games.

In the popular peer-to-peer skill games, players compete against each other for real money prizes. Yet, Skillz alleged that the use of bots granted Papaya an unfair advantage within the skill-based gaming vertical.

Recently Papaya responded to the lawsuit filed by Skillz. The rival operator rejected the majority of the claims made by Skillz and at the same time made counterclaims. Papaya argued that it never advertised that its games do not use bots. Still, it said that its games are fair, and its popular quick matchmaking feature enables players from different skill sets to quickly match with others.

Details regarding the counterclaim released by Casino.org reveal that Papaya claimed Skillz created 4FairPlay.org, a “fabricated website” where untrue allegations against competitors of the latter were posted.

“Skillz has furthered this false narrative in several ways, including launching a fraudulent website from the shadows, presenting wholly fabricated data concerning customer ‘complaints’ about Papaya, and seeking to weaponize state agencies to pursue investigations of Skillz’s competitors,” wrote Papaya in its counterclaim. Moreover, the company argued that Skillz is misleading its customers by presenting its platform as “absolutely free of computerized opponents.”

The Company Is Prepared to Defend in the Lawsuit Filed by Skillz

A spokesperson for Papaya, interviewed by Casino.org, revealed that the company anticipates defending its position vigorously. The same spokesperson pointed to the counterclaim which alleges that Skillz “engaged in a pattern of tortious and deceptive conduct,” referring to the aforementioned website that contained false accusations against Papaya and other rival skill games companies.

The lawsuit against Papaya isn’t the first one filed by Skillz recently. Earlier this year, the latter company challenged another competitor in court. At the time, Skillz filed a lawsuit against Voodoo, claiming that its rival uses bots instead of real players.

The actions of Voodoo, per Skillz’s claim, resulted in damage to its profits, revenue and reputation. Moreover, the company argued that the rival impacted its market share.