I have a question, i usually wander in commercial forum, i see there are people that say, “hey i want a clone of x game, how much you charge for it?”, i mean, if i make a clone about a game, it would be only for me to learn the game aspects, but i really wonder, how people can make money out of this, they ask for a clone, pay x to the developerteam(art,music,coding, ->final product), then they put it in the stores and hope it gets more money than they pay for? or they target the ads?
I want to learn about this method, to see if i should join the boat
thanks in advance for any comment
It typically has nothing to do with commercial success. Its people who played the game and loved it. Then, they either didn’t want it to end, or they had a “great idea” of something new that could be added to it.
Since the developers aren’t catering to their fantasy, they decide to go out and do it themselves. Of course, they typically discover that there was a very good reason that their “great idea” wasn’t in the game, and also that making games is a lot harder than playing them.
well i kinda wanted to go into that, how companies make money from a cloned game?, i could clone games to learn, but being able to make money out of it, well, does not sound too bad
Look at Zynga. They don’t design anything just clone whatever’s selling and have been successful in doing so…they even settle claims from those they clone and still make money.
Proven success is less of a risk. If someone has done something first and have pioneered and are innovative and it proves to be a big hit, what that means is you know there are a lot of people attracted to that concept/idea/model/product/whatever and it’s a hot thing, and especially if it’s new with not much cloning done already, there is a big incentive to copy the concept maybe with a slight twist, because you know that it should get almost as much attention/success as the original. Your copy may not be original at all, may only have a few slight differences or cosmetic changes etc, but the hope is that you already know that the product has proven to be successful before you even release it, reducing risk tremendously and giving you some assurance/figures to base your business on.
You might not get recognition as an innovator, maybe even some negativity from being a knock off or copycat, but also there will be a lot of people who never knew the original design existed and maybe just found yours and think you are the one with the original idea. So there you go… it can be an easier, less glamorous path. It also can save a lot of time designing stuff and figuring out what works - someone else has already put in the R&D hours for you and given you a sophisticated working prototype. On of your strategies then might be to identify pockets of markets who are unaware of the original or don’t have access to it (e.g a new platform) where you can release a very similar game and be thought of as original within that space.
So I think it’s more to do with people wanting a slice of that pie when they see people flocking to something new, they want to syphon off some of the traffic and capitalize on the interest from that audience. Hence innovators like Apple (in most people’s eyes at least) get copied after iPod, iPhone, iPad, etc. and you see a whole new social shift toward these things, not just the original models but all these copycats and similar products. ie they see there is enough meat on the carcass for more than one mouth to feed.
I agree that for a learning experience, it is an okay route. But ultimately to much of a clone can get really annoying. For an example, Call of Duty.
With much success a lot of developers pay good money to make a nearby clone. To me it gets kind of annoying after awhile, I don’t want to play too many shooters that are lackluster quality that merely mimics a great success story to a great franchise. A few clones is okay, but too many of them makes me tiresome of the genre. If anything, adding originality to it would keep them from boring me of playing a similar gaming experience.
Reasons why gamers always ask for something new and surprising. I’d say that the producers of CoD already perfected their craft, or maybe in need of small improvements but that comes with each released sequel of a franchise. I don’t really see the need in a copy unless you got something interesting going on with the game itself. Then again just my opinion.
ZYNGA, GAMELOFT, GLU MOBILE, all the AAA FPS Shooters, etc etc. Practically every major studio (and majority of App Store).
And its NOT a crime - you can’t patent game mechanics. So ripping out game mechanics and putting on a fresh coat of paint, a new story, and most importantly, a NEW NAME (because name can be trademarked and thus you can be sued and lose if you use same/similar words in your title) and you pretty much got a new game you can get away with it.
Copying/Cloning is not a crime. Heck, the whole success of this industry is built ON TOP of cloning. The PC you use? IBM PC Clone! The operating system, the word processor, the spreadsheet…Microsoft excelled at cloning their competitors until they all go out of business! This is the age of cloning! You really don’t need to look very far to find justification.
I can think of four reasons:
-A cashgrab.
-They loved the concept and wish to expand upon it.
-As a learning experience.
-To lower the risk of a poor reception.
You do write like a bawss
thank you for your point of view!
i think i should clone some games, but what kind of monetization type is the best for indies? ads, 1dollar app, in-app purchase?
In term of market penetration, clones just plainly suck at refreshing the playerbase.
Booming audience, aka growth, was always far stronger with new game designs than with rehashes.
It doesn’t get a top analyst to see that, just by looking at how started the most popular genres. Or just by playing the goddamn games instead of staring at those bank account graphs.
Cloning is cheap, nobody learns anything from it (except how to live in the shadow of someone else), and it doesn’t push videogames culture forward, only backward. It’s just adding some noise to an already overcrowded market.
On the production side, it may serve cash gluttons and fame surfers, but it certainly doesn’t serve the gaming community at all.
It should never be encouraged.
Heck, the whole success of this industry is built ON TOP of cloning. The PC you use? IBM PC Clone! The operating system, the word processor, the spreadsheet…Microsoft excelled at cloning their competitors until they all go out of business! This is the age of cloning! You really don’t need to look very far to find justification.
