Google, Apple pop a cap in that Flappy Birds crapp app flapp Apple and Google have apparently launched a campaign to shut down the fledgling Flappy Bird clone industry after banning copycat games from app stores. A number of devs have claimed their Flappy apps have been rejected from both the Apple app store and Google Play. After Dong Nguyen removed Flappy Birds from both app stores, …
On a little piece of wood,
Mr. Spikky Sparrow stood;
Mrs. Sparrow sate close by,
A-making of an insect pie,
For her little children five,
In the nest and all alive,
Singing with a cheerful smile
To amuse them all the while,
Twikky wikky wikky wee,
Wikky bikky twikky tee,
Spikky bikky bee!
Where would the world of computer games be if it weren't for copying other people's ideas? Obviously these are just blatantly cashing in, but many old 8bit games shamelessly ripped each other off. In fact the vast majority of 1st person shooters could be the same game and only the most hardcore gamer would know the difference. (Oh, this D-Day 1st person shooter is Utah beach and that one is Omaha beach, totally different then...)
I would be happy if they just banned all the ones that tried to exploit money from poor unsuspecting kids (aka parents bank acounts) and left the unimaginative freebie clones up to market forces.
I suspect Apple and Google have taken this action because of the former category rather than the latter.
I hope that they'll look more closely than just at the name. Otherwise when I come to release my 1920s themed, point and click adventure following a young woman as she explores the fashion and dances of the speakeasies it may turn out I've wasted a whole morning and most of an afternoon developing Flapper Bird. :(
Easily the best parody app, and an official Sesame Street product too:
All this over some clone of the various "helicopter in a cave", "snake in a hole" type games that have existed to decades?
Bloody hell people, get a grip! The game is not original in an shape or form. The entire game is a rip (see above) and the graphics are blatant copy of Nintendo.
Storm, teacup.
... your App will be righteously REJECTED by the selected guardians of UTTER ORIGINALITY and GLORIOUS INNOVATION sitting in deep ZEN MEDITATION in the HIGH CASTLE of the FRUITY DO-NAUGHT!
But isssuing "Flappy Jobs at Flapple" will cause a free visit by a LEGAL GOON SQUAD.
Flap on, peasant, and be grateful! (Jobs 25:17)
Seriously guys, go looking for 'Selling clones of my app'... Only, don't just Google® for it.
Both Google and Apple's app stores don't give a flying F*** about copycats ripping off small developers' games and utility apps. Only big software companies with armies of IP lawyers can make any worthwhile revenue (as in, enough to grow a small company into a medium-to-large one) from from app store sales...
..Companies like Google and Apple, if you get my meaning. Companies that wouldn't want their engineers getting ideas about life outside the cubicle farm.
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