Gameloft dismisses copycat criticisms, 'there is maybe one new idea a year'
No minced words
French publisher Gameloft may be one of the largest game makers on iPhone, and it consistently cranks out high quality, must-have apps, but there’s one criticism constantly levelled against the game maker: plagiarism.
Some unfavourable critics might say Shadow Guardian has a whiff of Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series and N.O.V.A. is more than a little reminiscent of Bungie’s sci-fi shooter epic, Halo.
Gameloft’s most recently announced game, an unnamed fantasy adventure teased yesterday, immediately reminded us of The Legend of Zelda.
In a recent interview, IGN Wireless asked Gameloft CEO Michel Guillemot his opinion on these claims of copycat game making. "The video game industry has always played around a limited number of themes,“ he says. “There is maybe one new idea a year."
He goes on to reference the huge number of snazzy action games released in God of War's wake, and open-world crime games made following Grand Theft Auto - two games that Gameloft has notably payed homage to, in Hero of Sparta and Gangstar: Miami Vindication.
“If a type of game is not available, then you should make it,” Guillemot says. “The damaging thing is if you do a bad expression of a good idea," He also says Gameloft is providing experiences that mobile gamers might never see. You’re not going to find a Zelda adventure on Android, that’s for sure.
Gameloft vice president Gonzague de Vallois gave our sister site PocketGamer.biz a slightly less wordy answer when interviewed in 2009. "People want these games," he says. "We look at what is going to be successful on iPhone and move forward from there."