Zynga steal Tiny Tower? That's what developers say
(CBS) - Zynga was blasted for copying the 2011 iPhone game of the year, Tiny Tower.
The three-person team at Nimblebit posted a letter to the insanely successful mobile game company via Twitter, with a side-by-side comparison of their iPhone game Tiny Tower with Zynga's new game Dream Heights. The tweet simply said, "Dear @Zynga" and linked to the image.
Full coverage of Zynga at Tech Talk
"We noticed you are about to launch a new iPhone game called Dream Heights! Congratulations!" the note from Nimblebit says. "We wanted to thank all you guys for being such big fans of our iPhone game of the year Tiny Tower!"
The side-by-side screen shots are quite convincing. Everything from the gameplay to the reward system is similar. It seems like Zynga just went in and produced a pretty version of Tiny Tower.But, are they in the wrong?
A conversation thread at Reddit points out that lifting other people's ideas is nothing new. As a matter of fact, Reddit user nevesis points out Tiny Tower looks just like Maxis' SimTower.
This isn't the first time Zynga has face controversy, however. FarmVille, the game that put the company on the map, has been accused of looking just like Farm Town - a 2009 game developed by Slashkey.
Oh, and the plot thickens. Reddit user phoenix3d also points out that Farm Town looks very similar to SimFarm, another Maxis game.
They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery. Guess you're doing it right, Nimblebit.
