Publisher says its mobile division was not privy to Twisted Pixel publishing talks before making 'copycat' title
Capcom says it wants to ‘rebuild trust’ with the games market after facing growing accusations of plagiarising an XBLA game.
Popular independent outfit Twisted Pixel said Capcom’s new iPhone game, Maxplosion, bears an uncanny resemblance to the hit XBLA game Splosion Man.
Twisted Pixel co-founder Michael Wilford suggested the game was ‘outright theft’, before – in a more serious turn – claiming his studio “originally pitched Splosion Man to Capcom and they said no.”
Capcom confirmed that a meeting did take place, but said its Maxplosion developer – Capcom Mobile – was not privy to such talks.
“While Twisted Pixel did have discussions with our console game team about publishing ‘Splosion Man’ on game consoles, Capcom Mobile is a different division of Capcom with separate offices and as such, had no prior knowledge of any meetings between the console game team and Twisted Pixel,” the company said in a prepared statement to Develop.
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The firm did not specifically answer the accusation that Capcom Mobile had knowledge of, and was inspired by, Twisted Pixel’s original game.
It said it was “saddened by this situation and hopes to rebuild the trust of our fans and friends in the gaming community”.
There have been no legal charges against Capcom.
The game principles, colour scheme, elements, assets, environment and style... everything just "screams" copycat!
I hope Twisted Pixel receive compensation here; Splosion Man is an awesome XBLA game!
More depressing news then. Some amount of cloning of ideas I think is necessary in the industry, so long as the clone advances the formula sufficiently as to be viewed as being able to stand on its own two feet.
From having viewed the video of Maxplosion though it looks like an outright ripoff. As nea pointed out above it has a very similar aesthetic as well as gameplay mechanic... this couldn't possibly be anything other than a blatant ripoff... there's no way anyone would independantly develop something so similar without having had some exposure to Splosion Man.
Shame on you Capcom.
