Somebody has officially said it: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is a rip off. While we all know it to be true and have likened it to Nintendo's Smash Bros., no one has flat out called it a direct rip off, until now.
Sounding off on Twitter, Devil May Cry and Bayonetta designer, Hideki Kamiya, has criticized Sony's PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale for being a "rip off".
When asked if he was looking forward to PlayStation All-Stars, Kamiya responded: "No. I don't like that game."
Asked to elaborate, he bluntly tweeted: "It's just a rip off…I don't like rip-off."
Sony fans immediately came to the defense of the game. They said Sony's listening to fan requests and mirroring a series as successful as Super Smash Bros. was actually a good thing, to which Kamiya responded: "And throw morals away".
My initial reaction is to side with Sony fans. I'm not going to argue that it's not a rip off of Super Smash Bros. because the inspiration is clear, but what I will argue is Kamiya's attitude towards the game because of its similarities to Nintendo's brawler.
We are talking about freaking video games, get off your mighty horse and have some fun. Developers copy and improve on games with similar concepts all the time. Has he seen the first-person shooter genre?
As a developer, you have to expect people will copy your ideas. Heck, even Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford was "astonished" that no developer has ripped off Borderlands yet.
Competition is a good thing, Kamiya. Embrace it. With that being said, new IPs are also necessary and Sony is delivering those as well in the form of The Last of Us and Beyond: Two Souls. So relax before you call out Sony on not being original.
