Can someone really steal your game?

Hi all,
After 3 years of work, I am finally about the release.
Maybe it is childish and ridiculous but still can stop thinking “Someone can steal your game be careful”
Is there really a way for someone to download my apk from app store (may be in the test stage) then change it and sell it as if it was his own?
Or is there really any way for someone to steal a game that I should be careful at that stage?
Because after 3 years of hard work it would be really devastating to lose it…

Have the same doubts as you. I never released a game yet so stuff bellow is just my opinion.

I’m not 100% positive about this but in theory they can’t get your apk from google directly and re-uploading it back because the apk is signed by you in unity before exporting

They can maybe get the assets, recreate the game probably, but in the end not much you can do against people with a purpose and lot of time on their hand. But this may be too much work for a new game that maybe is not some big house production. Then if your game is really successful some could try, but by then, who cares, right? :smile:

Maybe you could look into how to contact google or apple if you see a game that is the same thing as you have. Also check the asset store there are some solutions there that I think they obfuscate the code.

But you know what? in the end if your game is good I think normal players will play it and if they see a copy cat they will know the original.

There is this game named “Medieval Dynasty”, basically they took the game “Kingdom Come Deliverance” and “took inspiration” for the menu look, the setting, the environments, even the clunky movement that KCD have. Off course they created a different game, is more about building and farming but the “inspiration” is quite impressive if you have played the original. I actually like both but I can’t deny the similarities. I mean why copy the annoying player movement that kcd has? Really?

No. Starting back in August of this year Google now requires new projects be submitted as an AAB (Android App Bundle). When a user downloads your app they receive an APK file that is optimized for their platform and not the original AAB.

That said you are worrying over the wrong issue. People who steal the APK do so with the intention of distributing it like other pirated software not reselling it on the store. Games you see on the store that look like they were stolen are in fact not stolen but cloned.

Cloning has happened to mobile apps for so long that some people have reached the point they can do it within a very short period of time. KetchApp, for example, is a company that is famous for being able to clone most games within a week or two of their release and is the subject of the link below.

There are many instances of the clone being more successful than the original and when that happens it’s not been unusual for people to treat the original as the clone.

https://venturebeat.com/2014/03/30/threes-vs-2048-when-rip-offs-do-better-than-the-original-game/

All of the above is largely why I and many others recommend to people not to become mobile developers. It’s a very cutthroat industry to try to squeeze into and the chances of you having any success are incredibly slim.

It’s reached the point where one of the few ways of achieving success is not to spend years developing a game but to spend as little time as possible on a project, release it, and move to the next project.

Angry Birds and the company behind it are an excellent example of this. Rovio started mobile development back in 2003. Angry Birds was released in 2009 as their 52nd game. By the time it came out they were on the verge of bankruptcy meaning the first 51 games were not successful commercially.

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they can also clone that AAB?

I don’t think so; if I’ve understood correctly, the AAB stays at Google’s. @Ryiah will tell if I’m right or wrong.

What do you recommend developing for then? :slight_smile:

You’re right.

Standalone and consoles.

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But if your game is worth to copy doesn’t that mean you already earned enough before they copy it?

No. If they waited long enough for a game to make the bulk of its money they would be too late to market with their own game. In the example I gave above the original game Threes came out Feb 2014. It’s clone 2048 came out one month later.

Standalone and console games make their money almost entirely in a short period of time after release but mobile games don’t work like that and instead make money over the lifetime of the game.