Hot off the heels of Capcom’s MaXplosion debacle, we have a game theft that’s even more egregious, shameless and downright scummy. The Blocks Cometh is a really cool flash game that was actually being redeveloped for the iPhone … until the developers discovered it’s already on iTunes!
Featured on iTunes’ “New & Noteworthy” section, The Blocks Cometh for iOS is the exact same game as Halfbot’s Flash title, taking the name, the concept, and even the art assets with only a cosmetic change made to the player character (confirmed by Halfbot to have been stolen from the game League of Evil). It’s hit the “top 200” chart in spite of its status as a stolen game.
You can see the title in its original Flash form right here, and check out the header image to see how big a scam this is. As you can see, it’s utterly blatant. Halfbot has contacted Apple and hopes to get the game removed, while it works on porting an official version.
“The concept I can let slide but stealing our name and art is a down right shitty thing to do,” says Halfbot’s Derek Laufman.
This is the dark side of mobile gaming. As much as I support the market, the thoroughly contemptible lack of scruples exhibited by many developers within the sector turns my stomach.
Published: Jan 14, 2011 07:00 am