2048 is a ripoff of Threes the same way that Connect Four is a ripoff of checkers. The gameplay is different enough that the two are effectively different games, even though there are some similarities at the surface. In fact, I found out about Threes because of the credit at the bottom of 2048, and purchased it as a result. I'd love to see Threes sales numbers... I suspect their sales have gone up.

If people really wanted the superior product "Threes", they would pay the modest price. They don't. The efforts that the author(s) spent on the extra bells&whistles of this product were largely a waste of their time. The basic idea is very simple, and is priced correctly by the market as free. If you develop a very fancy tic-tac-toe program and sell it for $2, you have no right to be upset that someone writes a simple version in an hour and releases it for free.

This is a really bizarre mentality: someone did something better and it's free, it's an attack on capitalism, how dare they! Are you also Republican by any chance? The burden is on the paid product to offer meaningfully higher value.

I've purchased Threes before I played 2048. I prefer 2048 -- it has better gameplay.

2048, and games like it, are one of the best things that has happened to the game industry - both the monetised section of it and the non-monetised section.

2048 is an open source game - the source code is available here: https://github.com/gabrielecir.... In fact, I'd be willing to bet this was just knocked together by someone who wanted to learn some new stuff.

Open source is great, because it gives people an opportunity to play with ideas and see how things are done. Just look at the hordes of 2048 'rip-offs' that are spinning up. You've got the doge-themed one - http://doge2048.com/, there's

a numberwang themes one: http://louhuang.com/2048-numbe... and even a hexagonal one: http://rudradevbasak.github.io.... Without 2048 to base their ideas on, none of these would ever have happened.
So games like this inspire people to learn how to write games, to play with mechanics and to try out new things. In an industry where most of what I see is a crappy knock-off of something else, I think having a crappy knock off that inspires others to learn is a great thing.

I never heard of Three before 2048. I thought 2048 was inspired from 1024.

I would disagree that Threes is better. Sure it's more polished and has a soundtrack and whatever, but 2048 is good enough for 99% of the people.

That's the thing that's hard to understand about virality. It isn't the best made app that wins. It's just some combination of good-enough and luck. I, for one, wouldn't have guessed that Flappy Bird would be the hit that is was. It was just good enough, yet took the world by storm. Did Flappy Bird steal Nintendo's art and similar flap mechanics of "Piou Piou"? (see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... ) If so, does it really matter? Did the Three's authors create a totally new game concept or was this based on some previously existing similar concept?

If 2048 is killing Three's revenue stream (massive assumption there in your article) then its not the result df indiscriminate cannibalisation of an idea, but testament to the better marketing that 2048 has engaged in (whether intentional or not).

The makers of Threes made a great game, because they love making games, and i suspect that their motivation for work, is about making great games, not revenue. I make this point to question the true effects (if at all) this 'revenue stream killing' effect will have on the makers of Threes.

Surely the lesson is, if you're an indie, make great games. Then pay great marketers to let people know about your game. Maybe all game releases will have accompanying marketing strategies, where the main paid for game, will be partnered by a clandestine release of a 'rip-off' app to boost exposure in the blogosphere.

Totally disagree that 3s is a superior game. 2048 simplifies it to an elemental nugget of goodness. Having played both, I find 3s needlessly complex.

a free open source blog solution is used here :P