Capcom 'Saddened' By Game Plagiarism Controversy

Capcom's recent release of action platformer Maxsplosion for the iPhone caused indie developer Twisted Pixel to call Capcom out for copying the concept from their successful Xbox Live game 'Splosion Man. Twisted Pixel said they had no plans for legal action, since they were "too small to take on a company like Capcom." The indie studio had even pitched the game to Capcom for publishing at one point, but were declined. Now, Capcom has released a statement denying that Maxsplosion's development team had any knowledge of the meetings and saying, "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."

Comments

"Controversey"?

[Anonymous Coward]

/. readers 'saddened' by misspelling of "controversy" in the title.

Re:"Controversey"?

[aliquis]

Clearly not the same.

Heck, I can't see any similarities at all.

As if they don't lose that argument already at the name.

This could get complicated

[Undead Waffle]

I know corporations are people now and everything but I find their expressions sometimes difficult to interpret. Can we ask that they include a "current mood" icon on their corporate website or something so we can all avoid potentially embarrassing situations?

Re:This could get complicated

[GameboyRMH]

I understand corporate emotions now. As soon as I read the title, I knew Capcom had plagiarized something.

So here is the corporate-to-human emotion conversion table:

Corporate --- Human (Example as used in corporate-speak)

Sad --- Remorseless denial of guilt in the face of overwhelming evidence (As seen in the title, or "we are saddened about the situation at our Chinese manufacturing plant")

Happy --- Having a Greedgasm (As in "we are happy to report record 4th quarter earnings")

Proud --- Cautiously Optimistic (as in "Microsoft is proud of the security enhancements to our latest products")

Pleased --- Cackling like a Supervillain (as in "we are pleased to be found innocent in this case")

Regret --- Polite Indifference (as in "we regret to inform you that your services are no longer needed" or "we regret to inform you that your personal information was stolen from our database")

Disapproval - Insane with Rage (as in "Ubisoft disapproves of piracy")

Remorse - Grudging, hollow, and remorseless admission of guilt (as in "BP expresses remorse at the ecological disaster in the Gulf of Mexico")

Re:This could get complicated

[JasterBobaMereel]

Silence --- Thankful no one seems to have noticed "Phew we seem to have got away with that, everyone is blaming BP"

as in the Gulf Oil Spill :
  Hyundai - Built the Deepwater Horizon
  Transocean - Owned the Deepwater Horizon
  Halliburton - Contractors doing the work, and Maintaining the Rig
  Anadarko, MOEX - Co-Operators of the field and Rig

Double-plagiarism É

[billcopc]

Judging by the video, Capcom's game looks like as much a rip-off of Splosion Man as of Sonic the Hedgehog.

If this is the product of the wholly-owned subsidiary that used to be called Cosmic Infinity, then I'm not surprised. There were a shithole back when they were independent, cranking out such shovelware classics as "Who wants to be a millionaire", which was little more than "You don't know Jack" 's Java engine with a different set of questions. That shop was an embarassment to the Canadian tech industry, and for Capcom to buy them up, well that just shows how little they care about the mobile segment.

For Twisted Pixel, this is not worth suing, because if push came to shove, Capcom will simply disown the studio and there will be nothing to go after. This is partially why big game houses farm out the shady/underdeveloped titles to subsidiaries: limited liability.

MBA programs now teach this kind of approach.

[Anonymous Coward]

If the likely net cost of the lawsuit times the likeliness of that lawsuit succeeding is smaller than the expected revenue minus the goodwill hit, then move ahead.
If Damages * Likelihood is greater than Revenue, then proceed.
Just as simple as that. Just like any other lesson from school. I've been amazed and disgusted at how openly some executives have admitted this to me. And they almost always phrase it precisely like that.
After more than a few drinks.
Usually then they laugh and look smug.
Our executive culture is fundamentally rotten. Fundamentally. Every fucking "premium" MBA program in America should be forced to publish their curricula and have outside experts analyze their lectures. Seriously. Because these days this kind of criminality is quite literally taught in our business schools. You think I'm exaggerating? Get a few drinks into a graduate of a high status MBA program on a day that they're feeling good and ask them.

Re:MBA programs now teach this kind of approach.

[Enter the Shoggoth]

If the likely net cost of the lawsuit times the likeliness of that lawsuit succeeding is smaller than the expected revenue minus the goodwill hit, then move ahead.
If Damages * Likelihood is greater than Revenue, then proceed.
Just as simple as that. Just like any other lesson from school. I've been amazed and disgusted at how openly some executives have admitted this to me. And they almost always phrase it precisely like that.
After more than a few drinks.
Usually then they laugh and look smug.
Our executive culture is fundamentally rotten. Fundamentally. Every fucking "premium" MBA program in America should be forced to publish their curricula and have outside experts analyze their lectures. Seriously. Because these days this kind of criminality is quite literally taught in our business schools. You think I'm exaggerating? Get a few drinks into a graduate of a high status MBA program on a day that they're feeling good and ask them.

As much as I hate the whole concept of management school are you sure you're not confusing correlation with causation? It may not be part of the curricula - perhaps only criminal scum of this ilk are attracted to the degree in the first place and don't need to be taught to behave unethically?

Translation:

[Zouden]

"We are sad that someone noticed, and hope that people will forget that we did this."

Re:Double-plagiarism

[alexhs]

We here at Capcom are saddened that [...] we can't go after Minecraft, Super Meat Boy etc without getting noticed.

Well, I think that they don't care that much about simply getting noticed.
They're saddened that they could lose sales because of bad publicity as a consequence.