First, the background, and let me quote Industrygamers:
One way to think about Zynga's game, given the assumption it is the exact same gameplay just with different art direction, is what does it cost to play? If I want to get a certain amount of enjoyment out of it in a certain amount of time, how much would I have to spend? Then ask the same for Tiny Tower. Then one game might be a better "value" to the group of consumers who are actually willing to spend. Or maybe they are exactly the same? Sure, many people don't spend any money on these games but a small % of users of these types of games do indeed pay, and some pay a lot.
If someone could show the "value curves" for each game are roughly the same, then the next question might be "Where do you want your money to go? Zynga or Nimblebit?
Third, a legal opinion, also posted on Industrygamers which I paraphrase:
Last week, Zynga launched Dream Heights on the Canadian version Apple App Store. NimbleBit, developer of the iOS hit Tiny Tower, noticed that the game looked really familiar. In response, NimbleBit’s Ian Marsh posted the following image via Twitter yesterday.Second, some thoughts:
One way to think about Zynga's game, given the assumption it is the exact same gameplay just with different art direction, is what does it cost to play? If I want to get a certain amount of enjoyment out of it in a certain amount of time, how much would I have to spend? Then ask the same for Tiny Tower. Then one game might be a better "value" to the group of consumers who are actually willing to spend. Or maybe they are exactly the same? Sure, many people don't spend any money on these games but a small % of users of these types of games do indeed pay, and some pay a lot.
If someone could show the "value curves" for each game are roughly the same, then the next question might be "Where do you want your money to go? Zynga or Nimblebit?
Third, a legal opinion, also posted on Industrygamers which I paraphrase:
What Zynga did was legal. And the Nimblebit crew knows it.
Finally, closing thoughts:
Nimblebit's 3 man crew's best recourse is based on the following assumptions:
1) They appear to be more creative than Zynga's 2,789 (or however many) people are allowed to be, at least for this game.
2) They also appear to be much, much more, ahem, nimble
3) They have vastly smaller overhead than Zynga
4) This (https://s3.amazonaws.com/nbpromo/dearzynga.jpg) was brilliant at creating more awareness of Tiny Tower. Not everyone appreciates its sardonic nature, but it helps put Nimblebit on more people's radar and screams "David vs. Goliath"...and most people will root for the underdog, especially given Zynga's reputation.
So...Nimblebit: just keep doing what you do best as I'm sure you've already concluded.
1) They appear to be more creative than Zynga's 2,789 (or however many) people are allowed to be, at least for this game.
2) They also appear to be much, much more, ahem, nimble
3) They have vastly smaller overhead than Zynga
4) This (https://s3.amazonaws.com/nbpromo/dearzynga.jpg) was brilliant at creating more awareness of Tiny Tower. Not everyone appreciates its sardonic nature, but it helps put Nimblebit on more people's radar and screams "David vs. Goliath"...and most people will root for the underdog, especially given Zynga's reputation.
So...Nimblebit: just keep doing what you do best as I'm sure you've already concluded.
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