Weird Ripoffs On The Windows Store

I’ve been reviewing apps for quite some time now. And it really has given me a new view into the world of what’s popular and what’s not. I’ve seen apps like Vine jump around in popularity, and I’ve seen big names like Facebook continue to dominate the online world. However, especially when it comes to the Windows Store, I’ve seen one consistency: odd ripoffs. Whether it’s strange Mario or Pokemon ripoffs or even just the occasional Bejeweled ripoff (of which many exist), Windows Phones above all other platforms see an inordinate amount of copycats. And there’s been a recent trend of developers not just ripping off games, but copy/pasting them altogether. Let’s take a look at this odd new trend.

What’s Happening?

I first noticed this a few weeks ago while looking through the Windows Store, as apps such as “Super Marino All-Stars”, “Pocket FireRed”, and “Super Marino Kart” began popping up on the Windows Store. I was pretty intrigued, thinking that these were weird new ripoffs which I could write articles about. However, they were simply emulated versions of games like Super Mario Kart and Pokemon FireRed with absolutely nothing changed.

What Does This Mean?

While this is pretty weird on its own, it poses a bigger question: why is Windows allowing all these ripoffs to happen? These are legitimately big games that are just being pasted as unique apps with no recourse.

The Bottom Line

While I’ve definitely seen plenty of big apps ripped off on the various app stores, I’ve never seen something so blatant as the current trend on Windows Phones. While these very well may be taken down by the time you read this article, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that fresh new ripoffs will appear by then. After all, the main offenders I’ve mentioned have been up there for quite some time now.