Your thoughts on companies ripping off games

[Prayer]

Thought I'd ask this on this forum.

What do you think of companies ripping off games and making them available on a different platform (especially mobile)?​

e.g. Happy Street is a bad rip-off of Animal Crossing. Although they made the game (you guys love on your 3DS) available on mobile. What do you think of such companies? Yeh this is a bad example since the rip-off is just crap, but I guess it should make clear what I mean.

Note: Pretty much all of the popular mobile games right now are just rip-offs of Flash Games, with a better design and sometimes also a story.

 

[ForgottenT]

I don?t really care, but Happy Street looks more like Pet Society than Animal Crossing...

 

[........]

I don't think Happy Street is anything like Animal Crossing...I've been playing it for a year and those two have never crossed my mind at the same time. AC is much more in depth and a ton more customizable whereas in Happy Street there's only so much you can do in like an hour per day. They are both adorable games though and really addicting. :3

Back on topic though, I guess I don't really care. Sure it stinks that companies decide to take ideas from others and claim they're theirs, but it's probably not going to stop anytime soon.

 

[chillv]

I only like rip-offs if they add some kind of originality. For example, Cartoon Network Punchtime Explosion has nothing different about it that even makes it different to Smash Bros and Playstation Allstars is not a full rip-off but it copies way too much to call itself an original fighting game (No flame please)

 

[demoness]

Getting angry at companies using other games as a foundation for a new game makes little sense to me. How else is a genre supposed to take hold, change, or improve if the play style is reserved to one developer and there is no competition to make the best incarnation of that play style? I actually welcome companies to try and outdo each others' strengths.

 

[Prayer]

Getting angry at companies using other games as a foundation for a new game makes little sense to me. How else is a genre supposed to take hold, change, or improve if the play style is reserved to one developer and there is no competition to make the best incarnation of that play style? I actually welcome companies to try and outdo each others' strengths.

Great comment!

Well, I guess that 3 people think completely otherwise than you (according to the poll results). But I too think like you, and so do the above posters.

 

[Officer Berri]

Every time someone goes around screaming rip-off I feel like I have to roll my eyes and wonder if what they're complaining about is actually ripping off an idea or if they're making another game in the same genre.

Rip off: Blatantly using the characters/world/items/lore from another game without being granted permission, just to ride the popularity.
Competition in a Genre: Similar concepts, but original characters, story, and usually game play elements.

Animal Crossing Vs. Magician's Quest and Pokemon Vs. Digimon comes to mind. I saw many people call Magician's Quest an Animal Crossing rip off. The only thing they had in common was interaction with npcs (magician's quest still goes further than animal crossing) and clothing and house decoration. Animal Crossing actually became more like Magician's Quest when it comes to outfits because you can buy shoes now. Does that mean AC ripped off MQ? Nope. It's a simple and easy to come up with game element. I wish there were more versions of games like Animal Crossing and Magician's Quest. And more games like Pokemon and Digimon are always welcome. Though the Digimon games are hardly a ripoff. The only things they even have in common are creatures referencing real things/mythology and the fact the title has -mon in it.

Quick. Someone tell the companies to 'rip-off' Viva Pinata. I wan more games like Viva Pinata.

 

[chillv]

I don't have a problem with companies copying other games as long as it's just from inspiration. For example, Spongebob Squigglepants. It's a copy of WarioWare but you can see that they were inspired by the series and they thought Spongebob would fit very well in gameplay like this and they were right. Cartoon Network Punchtime Explosion is not a good example. It is basically takes the engine of SSB and then just slaps Cartoon Network all over it. It shows no inspiration, creativity or enthusiasm. It just shows that they saw the SSBB was selling like crazy and they want to make a game like it and see if it sells like crazy.

 

[MadCake]

Votes are tied 50/50. o-o.
Anyway, I do have a problem with it.
Mostly, It's Call of Duty and Halo.
I mean, They have no creativity. Call of Duty was great, but after 4 it started to be bad. Now, Some games had a great story.
As a matter of fact, Black ops had a good campaign storyline, and I do NOT like Black Ops. Funny, as half of my age range plays it.
After that, Half of the shooters we know started getting the repeating formula, and some of them had TERRIBLE stories ( Battlefield, I'm talking about YOU.) and overall, didn't need to be made.
So yeah, I don't like companies who rip off games, With no creativity in them at all.

 

[Jizg]

Unfortunately rip-offs or clones are bound to happen all the time due to pressures in the gaming industry. Shooters get the nastiest treatment of all if you haven't noticed. That said this doesn't really look anything like animal crossing. I've seen worse ripoffs like Disney Universe to Littlebigplanet. This is just another crappy micro transaction app I'm sure.

 

[kittenrobotarmy]

Most rip-offs come from the same companies who make great games. They think, "Let's just copy this best-selling game because our fans are stupid and won't notice". They see the chance to make money and create a crappy storyline and game really quickly because they think everyone will buy it just because they already sold a good game.

 

[idiotcurl]

From what I've seen, clones are actually more common among indie companies. I mean, look at all the indie Minecraft clones on the Xbox Arcade!
Personally, I don't see too much of a problem. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, after all. (Doesn't mean I'm likely to play said clones/"rip offs" though.)

 

[TiffaniMichele]

I had Happy Street on my iPad even before they were saying it was like Animal Crossing. It's NOTHING like Animal Crossing at all. In fact, it's so unlike it that I don't understand how they can say that.

I hate it when companies do that. Tons of companies did it after Temple Run came out. It's annoying and must be frustrating to the original creator the games that are being ripped off.

 

[oath2order]

Let the free market decide which one is better: The original or clone.

 

[Midoriya]

I know this is kind of a stupid question, but couldn't companies just put patents on their games? Just throwing that out there.

Creating video games is technically inventing new games, so it would work, and it shouldn't be a problem financially for companies that make millions upon billions of dollars every year.

 

[Cardbored]

Let the free market decide which one is better: The original or clone.

Obviously clones since people keep buying the new COD games.

 

[Kaiaa]

I know this is kind of a stupid question, but couldn't companies just put patents on their games? Just throwing that out there.

Creating video games is technically inventing new games, so it would work, and it shouldn't be a problem financially for companies that make millions upon billions of dollars every year.

Patents don't work that way and even if they did you don't want to monopolize video games. That would kill the industry.
Patents only protect very specific things about an item such as the name or very specific features. That's why you find "off-brand" items; they are basically the same thing but with different names.

If companies find that the "off brand" video game slanders them or causes the consumer to confuse their game with the "off brand" game, they may take it to court. Other than that, other companies are free to do as they wish.

~~~
On a side note, since most of us feel so passionately about video games, consider taking over the gaming industry when you are older. If you don't like the way things are now, you can change them in the future.

 

[Midoriya]

Patents don't work that way and even if they did you don't want to monopolize video games. That would kill the industry.
Patents only protect very specific things about an item such as the name or very specific features. That's why you find "off-brand" items; they are basically the same thing but with different names.

If companies find that the "off brand" video game slanders them or causes the consumer to confuse their game with the "off brand" game, they may take it to court. Other than that, other companies are free to do as they wish.

~~~
On a side note, since most of us feel so passionately about video games, consider taking over the gaming industry when you are older. If you don't like the way things are now, you can change them in the future.

Oh, never considered that. Nvm.

 

[Jaymes Keller]

I believe that Gaming is an evolving market. What I mean by that is the fact that most of the games we enjoy are based off older games. I don't agree with the fact that just because HS looks similar to AC, it's a rip-off, and decried from the rooftops. If the game wasn't free *and* had micro-transactions in it as well, coupled with dishonest practises, then that's where I start having problems. (See DayZ and The WarZ for a good example of this.)

 

[Pixelshift]

I tried a demo of Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed on my 3DS, and it looks like a crappy ripoff of Mario Kart 7. SEGA changed the water driving from underwater to a boat, and the gliding to a plane. What's next? Sonic & All Stars Tennis?