Ketchapp
 | |
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Mobile games |
| Founded | 2014 |
| Headquarters | Paris, France[1] |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people |
Antoine Morcos (CEO) Michel Morcos (Chairman) |
| Parent | Ubisoft |
| Website |
www |
Ketchapp is a mobile game publishing company based in Paris, France, that develops iOS and Android games. The company first came into the public eye in 2014 through its port of the open-source game 2048. Following that game's success, Ketchapp developed several games such as Circle, Don't Touch the Spikes and ZigZag. Many of Ketchapp's games are unlicensed variations of popular casual games by other developers. It was acquired by Ubisoft in September 2016.
History
Ketchapp was founded on January 28, 2014, by Antoine and Michel Morcos.[2]
In 2014, the company cloned Gabriele Cirulli's open-source puzzle game 2048 and published it as an app, with advertising.[3] It eventually reached the top of iOS App Store.[4] Ketchapp became successful by adapting ideas from other popular apps,[5] with many of its releases being variations on existing games, such as reworking the popular 2013 game Flappy Bird as Run Bird Run.[5] The company released the scrolling reaction game ZigZag in 2015,[6] which was praised for not being a clone of an existing game.[5]
Ketchapp encourages developers to submit games to them for possible release. In April 2015, developers Matt Akins and Mudloop both accused Ketchapp of publishing versions of games that had been submitted to Ketchapp and rejected, without credit and under similar but different titles - Akins's Rotable being similar to Ketchapp's Circle Pong, and Mudloop's Zig Zag Boom resembling ZigZag.[7] Mudloop later stated that they had learned that their submission of Zig Zag Boom to Ketchapp post-dated Ketchapp having a working version of ZigZag.[8] The developer of App Cow's Circle Pong claimed to have built it as a clone of Pongo Pongo, a game which pre-dated Matt Akins' submission of Rotable to Ketchapp.[8]
Other games by Ketchapp include Jelly Jump,[9] Don't Touch the Spikes[10] and The Tower. On September 26, 2016, Ubisoft announced that they had acquired the company.[11]
References
- ↑ "Indie iOS developer accuses Ketchapp of outright theft". gamepolitics.com.
- ↑ Ferran, Benjamin (25 March 2015). "KetchApp, les petits jeux qui ont rendu les Français accros". Le Figaro. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
- ↑ Patrick Klepek. "The Messy Story Behind A Game Clone". kotaku.com.au.
- ↑ Kelly Hodgkins. "Daily App: 2048 by ketchapp is a perfect port of the popular web-based numbers game". Engadget. AOL.
- 1 2 3 Grubb, Jeff (25 March 2015). "How one studio is finding repeated success with Flappy Bird-style games". Venture Beat. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
- ↑ Christiansen, Tom (6 February 2015). "Ketchapp's ZigZag Will Test Your Skills and Sanity". GameZebo.
- ↑ Dotson, Carter (28 April 2015). "Is Ketchapp Stealing Games That Developers Submit to Them?". Touch Arcade. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
- 1 2 "Was 'Circle Pong' a Ketchapp Clone of Another Game? Signs Point to No.". TouchArcade.
- ↑ Carter, Jaymes. "Jelly Jump is Another Successful One-Touch Button Game from Ketchapp". Droid Gamers.
- ↑ Gunther, Cory (30 July 2014). "Don't Touch The Spikes Is the Latest Flappy Bird Clone, With a Twist". Gotta Be Mobile.
- ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (September 28, 2016). "Ubisoft buys mobile game company behind Threes clone, 2048". Eurogamer. Retrieved September 29, 2016.