Yet one company seems to perpetuate more unoriginal games than the rest: Zynga. It may dominate the social games space, but Zynga isn't necessarily known for inventing innovative game play or bringing new ideas to the table.
This isn't a new statement. Zynga's entire history has been rife with accusations of copying previous game ideas. SFWeekly interviewed several former Zynga staff members who anonymously said CEO Marc Pincus asked them to steal ideas from other companies and package them better.
Pincus has defended himself publicly, as well: "Zynga believes that innovation in the social game space is about more than basic gaming concepts, which often have multi-decade prior histories, but about how those gaming concepts are transformed into truly social, engaging, constantly updated gaming services that deliver enjoyment to millions of people at a time," he said in a statement to The San Francisco Business Times in 2009.
Pincus is correct that game clones have always been a problem, especially when a new idea gains popularity quickly or when companies rush to fill an occupied space (like when consoles were invented in the past, or how gaming is moving to social networks today).
That said, look through our gallery of examples below, and tell us: Has Zynga gone too far with its copies?