Perhaps. I am not a business person. I make games for fun. I have a day job (which involves developing educational games) which I wouldn't quit even if one of my games somehow made a huge amount. I believe being angry at the free market is something you can't control, so why bother being angry at it. There are many things I don't like/should be improved, however apple/google isn't going to take my advice.
No, it's impossible to really accurately determine whether a game is well liked or not, although it's persistent top ranking despite a severe lack of marketing seems to indicate that it did indeed have at least fairly well propagating word of mouth. As for clones, of course the downloads are pretty low. Essentially, the pie remains the same size as Flappy Bird and yet it needs to be split among a hundred clones. Like the app store in general, a few slightly better ones will end up nearer to the top and take the lion's share of the customers. The need for clones is also more limited because very few of the clones actually offered anything new. Yes, customers want more of the same but they don't want exactly the same. For example, console gamers want a new Call of Duty every year but they don't want a second copy of the Call of Duty they already have.
I think games tend to spread like wild fire at schools, and that is what pushes them up so high on the charts, word of mouth is the biggest thing that spreads apps. It seems like the game has to have a level of fun, and then get played by popular kids at schools and it is away. The world is so connected these days that trends happen and move so so fast. It's one of those things that people put so much effort and money into trying to work out just what makes a game popular. And basically I think its as accurate as using tarot cards. As for clones, it is actually a smart thing to do really. Not to make exact copies of something, that's like setting up two identical shops next door to each other (which does happen). But using a tested concept is a smart thing. People obviously liked flappy bird, so why not use this tested concept that you know is fun, and put a slightly different spin on it. Add some humour to it, add extra styles of play, then you know it is fun, and your user also knows what to expect when getting your app, it's win win. The person that really loses out is the original developer, not the players. Like I didn't hear many players complaining that there are so many flappy bird games to choose from, they quite enjoy the variety. As long as they know they are different, I mean trying to trick people into getting your app is a different thing.
I'm very sure the answer to your question is the source code for 2048 was made available to everyone. It was probably shown to a forum for developers and they thought "sweet, free easy game!" and boom, you have 5 clones in 5 days. Breakfinity's source was not given away.
OK. The source code seems to be have been released the 6th of May on Git, on a US server, but since it may have been sent from Italy, the files could have landed in the morning of that day while it was already late in Italy. I'm puzzled about this now because the many variations of the near-clones also are intriguing and could have not existed with the open source nature of this app.
My initial thought was that it was the same person using multiple accounts to flood the market with his own and increase the chance that it will be his one that people find.
There's that too. If you look on the first link that was provided, the May 5 2048 game, you'll see he has several doubles and triples of the same app, including 2048s.
