Hey guys, just wanted to bring to your attention another indie developer who has been struck by the dishonest practices of large companies. Pokerist.com's Texas Poker app has been on the App Store for around 6 months now, gathering nearly 6,000,000 users with little to no marketing. We're currently ranked at #46 in the Top Free Chart along with being ranked at #4 in the Top Grossing Charts. We're too small to do anything against ZYNGA though, and I guess this is one way to really open the eyes of the public. Here's a graphic comparing our two games: http://www.flickr.com/photos/61477660@N05/5597828613/sizes/l/in/photostream/ Please spread the word and help some indie devs out, thanks!
I don't think you have much course of action. From looking at you picture their GUI has been changed to look more like yours but I don't think that crosses any legal boundary. If you make something popular others will imitate it, I don't think you can do much about it.
This looks like every other poker game to me. How many ways are there even to build a poker game? Of course there is going to be a heck of a lot of overlap in how the games look and play since they're all basically offering the exact same game.
I was going to say a similar thing to Hodapp but then I noticed the avatar design... that is pretty shocking, they've even gone with the same green hue! Unfortunately I don't think there is anything you can do.... and if there's one gaming company out there that dabbles constantly in the dark arts of game design its Zynga...
Maybe this should help: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-zynga-is-just-like-microsoft-2010-1#before-zynga-came-out-with-mafia-wars-1 Along with the fact that before this update, ZYNGA's poker app didn't include a progress bar, check box, raise, and avatars. After this update, they've added those elements to look almost exactly like Texas Poker.
Actually the only thing that you mentioned that hasnt been in there that long is the progress bar. But you have been able to check and raise for a long time, and there has been avatars in for probably a year and a half if not longer. The look has changed quite a bit tho. But I'm with hodapp, how many ways can you really make a poker game?
A lot of ways: http://ax.search.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?entity=software&media=all&restrict=true&submit=seeAllLockups&term=poker To me, the fact that ZYNGA's poker app looks nearly identical to its direct competitor isn't a coincidence. The UI before the update was completely different, and now it has changed into something that looks exactly like Texas Poker.
I guess I'm not sure what the point of getting worked up over this is. It seems like if you're not committed to investing substantial sums of money into suing Zynga for whatever damages you believe their game's similar UI has caused you, why not invest this effort elsewhere? There are tons of clones of games on the App Store, ranging from blatant rip-offs, to obvious inspirations, to Gameloft, to Zynga implementing a similar UI for their poker game. It's just the way the world works. Move on, make a new game, or make your poker game even better than Zynga's to up the ante further. Complaining that their new UI is too similar to yours seems like whining for the sake of whining, especially if you've already committed to not doing anything about it other than emailing press releases and posting a forum thread.
Pretty much every online multiplay poker app looks like that, except for the few I saw in 3D. And from personal experience I know that Zynga uses road maps for their app development and probably designed that layout for their app long before the update to pokerist came out. The last update to live poker had been in development for months, not a few weeks and rushed out the door to look like another app. And being that livepoker has been on the appstore from nearly 2 years and pokerist has been on there for....6 months you said? I pretty sure they "borrowed" some design ideas from livepoker and other games like it. and as a side note, I hate Zynga and hate defending them but this just thread just made me shake my head.
Hey guys, appreciate the comments. I'm sorry if this comes off as whining and if this thread makes you shake your head, but hey, an indie needs to defend himself somehow. If there is one thing I can do, it is to show the public of another large company trying to bury its smaller competitors by blatantly ripping it off. Maybe indie devs who have experienced something similar can relate.
I don't really think it's a blatant rip off. The original zynga poker looks similar to Glu's WSOP (especially that horrible dial used to adjust a bet) and the new one is similar to Pokerist's app. If you create something like a poker app you really should be downloading and playing all the poker apps on the appstore. You need to know your competition and recognize when they are doing things better than you. All I see is Zynga decluttering the screen and making the interface more polished.
I think it's quite clear they like to copy ideas, so it's probably based on an existing game, but... there's nothing anyone can do. You've just gotta say "Yup, we've been Zynga'd" and move on.
Size matters not. Being ranked #4 overall in Top Grossing, you can certainly afford to hire a lawyer to send a letter to Zynga if you feel you have a strong case. Honestly what boggles my mind is that any person in the world would be dumb enough to buy virtual poker chips instead of just playing at a real poker site. The fact that your app is #4 Top Grossing is a staggering indictment of human stupidity. That, and I'm jealous that I didn't think of it first.
Thanks for the advice, MidianGTX. Maybe there isn't anything we can really do, and that includes updating our game to be better. We now know that Zynga is analyzing our game thoroughly (we are their major competitor on the App Store), and all they really have to do is copy all of our features until they beat us out. Made me chuckle a little bit (the last part) .
Good, good! Seriously though, nice looking app and congratulations on the success. I've learned a thing or two from this thread.
You can still compete on community. If you have a large player base already, do whatever you can to make sure they don't jump ship. Encourage them to get the word out, offer incentives if they sign new players up, maybe offer prizes, etc. Zynga actually does player retention ridiculously well -- so, copy THEM.
Your game is not the first game Zynga has copied, so there really isn't any surprise here!) Farmville, MafiaWars, etc.
