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UPDATE: Capcom Game Looks Like ‘Splosion Man Rip-Off
UPDATE: Capcom has released an official statement regarding their mobile game MaXplosion's uncomfortable similarities to Twisted Pixel's 'Splosion Man. The company says they're "saddened" by the situation and they will work to regain everyone's trust. Read on for the full statement.
The entire statement given to Joystiq:
"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. 'MaXplosion' was developed independently by Capcom Mobile. Nonetheless, we are saddened by this situation and hope to rebuild the trust of our fans and friends in the gaming community."
While Capcom proper claims that Twisted Pixel ony pitched 'Splosion Man to their console reps, it's not hard to believe that their could be some cross-talk between branches. Whether this statement means MaXplosion will continue to be sold for iPhones is another story altogether.
ORIGINAL STORY: Twisted Pixel’s platformer 'Splosion Man is a fantastic game. The quirky protagonist, side-scrolling combustion-based gameplay, and laboratory environment are very unique. That’s why Capcom’s recent iPhone game, MaXplosion, is raising some eyebrows regarding similarities between the two games.
Here, you be the judge:
Twisted Pixel's 'Splosion Man
Capcom’s MaXplosion
It gets sketchier -- apparently Twisted Pixel actually pitched the concept for ‘Splosion Man to Capcom, but were turned down. Twisted Pixel co-founder and CEO Michael Wilford said, "Just sucks because we're too small to do anything about it, and I bet Capcom's counting on that."
Another Twisted Pixel employee, programmer Mike Henry, tweeted about the too-close-for-comfort platformer: "MaXplosion gameplay video makes me sad. If you're going to outright steal a game, you should at least understand what makes it fun."
To follow up he also said, "borrowing is great. Hell, we do it all the time. But that game is a complete theft."
Joystiq also posted the following official Twisted Pixel response from Wilford:
"We're definitely not going to pursue legal action. While I think the
similarities are pretty nauseating, we're too small to take on a company
like Capcom. That, and we owe them one for inventing Mega Man, so we'll let them slide. I just hope they're not counting on the fact that indies can't fight back.
"In general, anything that would take our focus off of making games
would be a bad decision, I think. We just need to keep our heads down
making the next thing so that Capcom has something to steal next year.
But I have to say, the amount of support we've seen in the last 12 hours
on Twitter and over email has been awesome, and I think that's better
than wining [sic] a stupid lawsuit or anything like that.
"We'll just have to make our own mobile game and I'm hopeful that Capcom
will see that robbing our *** wasn't worth it in the long run. We'll
let you know when we have something on the mobile front to talk about,
but now we have added incentive!"
So we may have a mobile game from Twisted Pixel to look forward to? Awesome.
Capcom has confirmed to us that they are preparing a statement for later today, so look for an update in the coming hours.
[via PocketGamer]
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