Yesterday we reported on the launch of Swing Copters and all the clones that arrived as a result. A herd of developers thought it’d be a good idea to try and cash in on Flappy Bird developer Dong Nguyen’s latest hit by blatantly ripping off its name, assets and gameplay mechanics. We imagined it would be tough for those clones to survive with the handy trademark Nguyen secured for his title, and it seems that assumption was spot on.
If you search for Swing Copters in the Google Play Store right now, there’s nary a clone to be found. Google has scrubbed their apps marketplace clean of anything that could cause trouble in the courtrooms. The search results have changed drastically in just 24 hours. We’ve gone from this:
To this:
Seems those developers’ time would have been better spent brainstorming original games that could potentially find their own avenue of success. That doesn’t mean all clones are gone. Games with different titles and graphics, but identical concepts and gameplay mechanics, still appear to be sitting in the Google Play Store.
We imagine Google can’t do much about it if the copycats aren’t technically stealing assets and using trademarked names, but it’s nice to know that folks won’t be accidentally downloading a cloned, and potentially dangerous, version of the real deal. It should be quite easy to find the original Swing Copters now, and should you fancy some of the other games “based on” Swing Copters, those are just as readily available.
What the hell is swing copter?
The next flappy bird.
On the one hand I want to punch unoriginal copycat thieves in the face, but on the other hand I hate stupid fad games with a passion, and on the 3rd hand… I feel a little pity for the desperate developers who feel they need to do this just for a little chump change.
I wish I had three hands… :o
That’s what she said? … Or… how about a 3rd leg instead? AmIDoingItRight?
Yes you are interneting correctly. Only way to improve would be to not use text and just use meme images…
Alright…
I don’t like fad games. I didn’t even get into Angry Birds.