Electronic Arts and Zynga have reached a settlement over the dispute involving the massively popular title The Ville.

With this development, both the gaming giants are now believed to be working towards dismissing the lawsuit that EA filed against Zynga last summer. The ball is in the court's hands though, as it will decide whether or not the dispute should be allowed to be settled outside of court.

"EA and Zynga have resolved their respective claims and have reached a settlement of their litigation in the Northern District of California," Zynga said in a statement released on 15 February.

Electronic Arts filed the lawsuit in August 2012, alleging that Zynga's widely popular lifestyle simulation game The Ville was heavily inspired by its own The Sims Social. At the time, EA claimed that it had filed the lawsuit in order to stand up "for the industry".

Shortly after being sued, Zynga struck back by filing its own lawsuit against EA, claiming that EA itself had copied visual elements from Zynga's CityVille in the SimCity Social.