41–50 of 67 posts
so, is that all these big game companies do, just copy? Seems that King and Zynga have been called out a few times recently. So are they hoping that they can clone a game just enough and hope people buy it because of their name versus some indie dev you may not have heard of?
Well, don't just limit it to big companies. Small companies, even startups just copy away. And it's not just games, but apps in general.
It would be interesting if Apple would step in here. They could, given their obscenely vague appstore "rules", simply delete the CandyCrush Saga game out of the store as it is a copy of an existing game. That would force King to be a bit more creative in their copying in the future. That said, "protecting" games has been a problem, almost literally forever. On the one hand you want folks to benefit from there work, o…
I'm the author of a popular app that has been copied by many many other developers. Despite many complaints to try and limit the copy-cats, Apple does nothing and leaves the issue up to the developers to sort out between themselves for the most part and it's absolutely frustrating. Watching an app be successful and then watching the copy-cats swoop in to feed on your success as Apple (or Google) do nothing is very di…
Be careful though. That successful app could very well likely be a copy-cat itself. Success does not mean originality.
It seems to me that making games for the iTunes App Store has become a "red ocean strategy." It's fiercely competitive, and there are now some monster sharks (e.g. King, Zynga). I don't like the sharks, but hey, they're sharks: they're doing what sharks do. Time to look for some blue ocean, I guess.
You imply the web is the blue ocean? :) I've experienced countless hotlinkings, rippings, clones, insults, DoS attacks and cybersquattings as a former Flash game developer. Luckily, I have not been involved in any trademark issues, but it is happening also on the web, isn't it?
I was just referencing the ideas in this book (with which I have no affiliation): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ocean_Strategy
It would be interesting if Apple would step in here. They could, given their obscenely vague appstore "rules", simply delete the CandyCrush Saga game out of the store as it is a copy of an existing game. That would force King to be a bit more creative in their copying in the future. That said, "protecting" games has been a problem, almost literally forever. On the one hand you want folks to benefit from there work, o…
Despite this argument's merit in general, it's a complete digression in this particular case. They didn't just heavily copy his game, but then turned around and named it similarly, registered a trademark, then turned that trademark against him. At what point do we stop pretending these people are anything but thieves?
Ouch. I had no idea CandySwipe even existed. This doesn't look good for King.com at all, especially after they were accused of copying Scamperghost[0]. [0]: http://junkyardsam.com/kingcopied/
I won't deny King's douchiness in the trademark case, which will no doubt hurt Mr. Ransom and Runsome Games, but this is not like the Scamperghost case (and nowhere does Mr. Ransom imply that it is -- he's just calling out King on its evil scheme of attempting to quash a pre-existing trademark).
Somewhat related and something I've thought about over the years: "Here's a model that we've had trouble with. Maybe you'll be able to figure it out better. Many markets get down to two or three big competitors—or five or six. And in some of those markets, nobody makes any money to speak of. But in others, everybody does very well. Over the years, we've tried to figure out why the competition in some markets gets sor…
With consumables (which includes things like cereal), you decide which brand to purchase, and you use or consume it. Then, the next time you need it, you must decide again which to buy and have virtually no downside to purchasing a different brand (no lock-in from the previous purchase).
With one-time-ever purchases (which I think includes subscriptions or recurring purchases where there is a barrier to switching, including games where you have saved progress through levels and rack up points or a high-score), you decide once and then stick with it. I think that's where competition can easily pivot from healthy for a business to merciless.
Then there are things like airline seats which are technically commodities, but not entirely. With airline seats, there are barriers to information (such as being able to use e.g. Kayak to compare prices, but having Spirit excluded from Kayak within the US means you must know to also check Spirit's site), and there are MVP and rewards programs and airline miles, etc, and there is also quality and ammenities, and the fact that you never know how much a ticket with luggage and a snack is going to cost until you go through the entire checkout process (and who has time to do that for all options). So, airline seats seem like they should be commodities, but they really aren't.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am surprised that this would pass in court as being a legitimate means of existing.
It doesn't have to pass in court as long as you have more money than your opponent. You just keep going until they run out of money.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_lawsuit_against_publi...
Ouch. I had no idea CandySwipe even existed. This doesn't look good for King.com at all, especially after they were accused of copying Scamperghost[0]. [0]: http://junkyardsam.com/kingcopied/
Honestly, Candy Crush and CandySwipe, while both using the candy theme, are rather different in terms of gameplay. Unlike the Scamperghost case, it is certainly not the case that Candy Crush is a copy of CandySwipe or even derivative. Candy Crush is the better game at least in terms of polish and long-term playability. I won't deny King's douchiness in the trademark case, which will no doubt hurt Mr. Ransom and Runso…
Somewhat related and something I've thought about over the years: "Here's a model that we've had trouble with. Maybe you'll be able to figure it out better. Many markets get down to two or three big competitors—or five or six. And in some of those markets, nobody makes any money to speak of. But in others, everybody does very well. Over the years, we've tried to figure out why the competition in some markets gets sor…
thinking this way: in the mind of the consumer tasty-ohs are not cheerios, though they are a replacement, but a seat on Southwest is the same thing as a seat on Delta. some people care, most don't. Airlines have not been able to successfully differentiate their products, so they operate in a commodity market, same as petrol or supermarkets.
Hey dude, That sucks. As a favor, I went ahead and gave them a shit review. If I had more time, I might link farm their brand name all over the place.