Developer who created the iOS clone Wordley – Word-puzzle game that has been going viral for the past two weeks – A Mia Gulpa (sort of) was released after being dragged online for tearing up the idea and happily bragging about profiting from it. His apology followed Apple’s removal of his copycat processor from the App Store.
Grace’s original Wordley, created by Brooklyn software engineer Josh Ward, is available to play online for free This link. There is no official application version of the game – this has led many opportunists to adopt the name and gameplay design and create clones that want to make money.
One of them was created by tech entrepreneur Zack Shake, whose “Word – the App” went live on Apple’s App Store on Monday. The game offers “pro” mode with five, six and seven-letter words (the original Wordle has five letters) as well as unlimited play for a $ 30 year subscription.
A Twitter thread Released late Tuesday, Shakt – after being attacked on social media for blatantly copying the success of the original virus – admitted his mistake. “I feel like I’ve crossed a line. I’m definitely, definitely not going to do anything close to this anymore. I fucked up,” he wrote.
Earlier on Tuesday, Shakt boasted about how his rip-off processor came out: “I’m really dizzy right now – it’s 5.4k downloads in 1 fucking hour,” he tweeted at one point. “We’re going to the moon,” he exclaimed.
Apple released Shakked’s game and more from the App Store on Tuesday following an ad about shameless Wordle ripoff apps.
The outrage over the clones in Word increased because Ward was not trying to monetize this game. A Interview with the New York Times Released last week (which clearly boosted its popularity), Ward said he created the game for his partner who is a fan of crosswords. “I think people appreciate that this thing is fun online,” he said. “It’s not trying to do anything shady with your data or your eyelids. It’s a fun game.
While Shakt said he was sorry, he tried to defend his actions and complained that he was being fired on coal for saying he was routine in the industry. “Wordle is a ripoff of another game,” he wrote, pointing out that “Wordle” is not a trademark.
“It’s the perfect storm to crucify me publicly for something in common,” Shakt wrote on Twitter. “In a week my usage will be completely different and have more functionality than the original dude did.” He continued, “I just charged a $ 30 subscription that 1000 people were willing to pay. This is how businesses operate. You charge money. If it’s too much, people will not pay. In this case, many are ready to launch an investigation.
Shakt also said that he lost money on this processor: “Yes, I was very excited when I saw how many downloads it gets. And how much money can it make (I became $ 0 and actually lost money). So no one but me is disappointed here. On January 3, he tweeted, “My 2022 resolutions: – Be more honest – Be worse – Make tons of money.”
In addition, Shakt insisted, “Another thing I would like to ask you is, how do you feel about Apple unilaterally removing apps without any help? I talked to the lawyers, the claim in the ‘word’ of the original creator is very dubious. Apple’s guidelines for app developers specifically advise you not to copy the latest popular app in the App Store or make any minor changes to another app’s name or UI and send it to your own.
Wardle’s Web Word became popular: at the beginning of January there were 300,000 daily players on the site, which rose to 2 million last weekend. Defender.
At the Apple App Store in the United States, there seem to be only two games currently with the Word name, both pre-Ward Game: “Word!”, First described in 2016 (described as a “timer-based word game” in which you are given letters to form a word as quickly as possible! ”), And“ Wordle – Word Puzzle ”released in 2018.
