Threes! Delisted From Google Play For Using Copycat 2048 As A Search Term

Threes!, the addictive puzzle hit from Sirvo, has been delisted from the Google Play Store, and the reasons are clearly bogus.

Designer Asher Vollmer did not mince words about the situation. On Twitter, he publicly disclosed the reason given to him was that their game used 2048 as a search keyword. 2048 is one of many derivative of Threes! , prominent for having overshadowed the success of its inspiration. This may seem like an embarrassing small flub on the surface, but an examination of the history and development of both games reveals so much more.

2048, published March 9 last year on the open web by Italian student Gabriele Cirulli, is open source and completely free to play. Because it is open source, multiple copycats and derivatives abound, including a Doge themed 2048 and a clever Flappy Bird hybrid. 2048 and its clones now overtake Threes! in name recall and popularity, so much so that some people still think Threes! is the clone of 2048.

However, as Sirvo has pointed out in an interview, they actually came across 2048 in the middle of iterating Threes!. While 2048 has proven popular and enduring, the game is fundamentally broken, as anyone who has tried to just move just left and just up can confirm on their own. Threes! is designed with an extra layer of strategy, making it a superior game. Of course, and tragically, this superior design is not apparent to most gamers.

While Cirulli has been accommodating to everyone cloning 2048, Sirvo is not happy about 2048 and its derivatives eclipsing Threes!. Ultimately, however, their ire is directed at platforms that enabled 2048, in this case Google. Designer Asher Voller shared this statement to GameInformer about the situation:

The decision to pull our app was clearly made by a robot and not by a human. I want Google Play to AT LEAST issue warnings before they take these kinds of actions. Hundreds of people will be directed to our clones for the next few days instead of THE ACTUAL GAME. This was a completely tone deaf move.

Ultimately, we can expect Google to return Threes! to their store, but doesn’t this situation point out the need for Google and other platforms to look at game clones and how it affects the quality of their offerings?

What do you think Google should do after reinstating Threes!? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.