Spry Fox CCO Daniel Cook has called on the mobile industry to move away from the practice of cloning, claiming there's more value in offering consumers innovation.

Speaking during his talk at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Cook claimed as many as 80 percent of the developers working in the industry today are placed within studios focusing on copying the games of their peers.

Time for change

As such, Cook said those involved risk missing out on an "exciting, exciting time" for mobile games development, currently being led by those with a thirst for originality.

"There's a lot more to life than than cloning the work of others and merely adding your own 10 percent innovation," offered Cook.

"I want designers to stand up and say: 'I am an inventor!' That way we have a chance to not only make a mark upon the world, but even change it.

"But I believe the genres that exists today are the tip of an iceberg that is going to radically revolutionise this industry over the next few decades. There is so much invention left to be done."

An axe to grind

Spry Fox is itself in the process of suing social publisher 6waves Lolapps (6L) over copyright infringement, accusing the outfit of cloning Triple Town in its release Yeti Town.

The studio alleges 6L utilised early access to the Spry Fox title when the two parties were seeking a publishing agreement.

"We are not enthusiastic about the prospect of spending our time in court as opposed to making games," said Spry Fox co-founer David Edery back in January.

"And in general, we believe that only in the most extreme circumstances should a video game developer resort to legal action in order to defend their creative works - the last thing our industry needs is frivolous lawsuits."

6L denies all such claims, branding the accusation "unjustified and plainly not true".

[source: Gamasutra]