In Defense of Gameloft [Opinion]

Gameloft is a game company that mostly makes mobile games (not counting the odd port to a handheld, like say Dungeon Hunters for PSVita)-- and actually really solid ones.  Unfortunatly they seem to be the recipiants of a lot of ire from the gaming comunity for what they do-- which is basically make knock-offs of known franchises for iOS and Android.  Is this really so bad though?



[caption id="attachment_3579" align="aligncenter" width="326"] An intelligent and well thought out argument from a Kotaku user.[/caption]

Yeah, Gameloft makes a lot of games that are remarkably similar to games that exist in the console market.  NOVA looks an awful lot like Halo, Modern Combat (and it's four sequels) is obviously more than a little inspired all those Call of Duties (Calls of Duty? Calls of Duties? What is the plural, exactly?), and they have at least four games that look like Grand Theft Auto.  Hell, Order and Chaos is looks and plays like World of Warcraft for your phone.

[caption id="attachment_3582" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Yeah, these things are more than a little similar-- the thing is, you'll only ever see one on your iPhone.[/caption]

Apparently, this is enough for a lot of gamers to hate Gameloft like they murdered their whole family.  Sure, it seems pretty crappy that they would make a game that just barely dodges a Halo lawsuit, but sit down and actually think about it for a minute.  Are Gameloft's mobile clones really that bad? It would be one thing if their games actively aped other games and were bad, but you know what?  They really aren't.  Gameloft's title's are usually solid experiences that even sometimes deliver console quality fun to your iPhone for like five bucks.  Sure they are slightly ripping a game concept, but are they ripping you off? Not in the least.  You're still getting a decent enough game for a reasonable price.

[caption id="attachment_3583" align="aligncenter" width="311"] ...but they do it so good![/caption]

Yeah, they are lifting concepts from major game developers, sure, but you know what?  Microsoft doesn't have a Halo game in the App store.  When Eternal Legacy (Gameloft's Final Fantasy inspired RPG) came out, there were no true Final Fantasies for your phone.  (Hell, there's a new one now and it's like $30! Actually I don't have a problem with SE's pricing...but that's another article for another time).  They are filling a void in the market! A lot of people want to play Halo, Zelda, and COD on their phone, and Gameloft is giving them a means to almost do that.  They obviously aren't cutting into the major dev's bottom line, so why all the hate?

[caption id="attachment_3584" align="aligncenter" width="657"] Filling a demand is pretty good business, and last I checked good businesses don't SHUT DOWN[/caption]

Another good thing about Gameloft: they keep those major devs on their toes.  Say Microsoft wanted to make a quick buck by making a Halo game for the iPhone (which is not something that would ever happen, but this is a hypothetical, stick with me), normally they could just take the easy way out and make a cheap and crappy side game or port that they know would sell on the Halo name alone.  They can't do that now though! Why would somebody drop cash on a poorly made Halo cash-in when they can get almost the same thing but better through Gameloft's Nova?  This kind of competition is healthy and in the end gets us better games.

As a matter of fact, game clones have brought us a lot of the games we know and love today! Do you like Galaxian? Well you could consider that a copy of Space Invaders.  Were you ever a fan of Guitar Hero? Well it owes most of its game design to an old Konami game by the name of Guitar Freaks.  Hell, the mega-super-popular Angry Birds is a total ripoff of Crush the Castle.

Next time you want to inject some Gameloft hate into that little comment box on Kotaku or whatever (if you can figure out their awful comment system, that is) think about it.  It what they are doing really hurting the industry? Is providing people a Zelda-like experience on a device where they can't (and never will) get one such a bad thing?  I submit that it is not.