Leaked Zynga Memo Justifies Copycat Strategy
Found on Forbes on Thursday, 02 February 2012
What drew the most ire recently was the release of Zynga’s Dream Heights, a clone of Nimblebit’s Tiny Tower, which also happened to be last year’s iPhone Game of the Year.
Pincus once famously said “I don’t f***ing want innovation. “You’re not smarter than your competitor. Just copy what they do and do it until you get their numbers.”
There’s no “inspiration” here, only thievery. Yes, they change the code and draw up new artwork to avoid any legal trouble (after getting in hot water for not doing that when they stole Farmville), but it’s the bare minimum to avoid legal retribution.
At the same time, countless individuals get sued into oblivion for violating some obscure copyrights (for example, like taking a photo that looks remotely similar to another one); and not only individuals: just think of Galaxy-Tab vs iPad. It's just looking a bit similar, just like any tablet would, yet lawyers are having expensive fights. Zynga however can afford to rip off others, simply because of their financial power; they don't have to fear a lawsuit started by a small company with two or three employees.