Watch Pot Farm's maker come to Zynga's defense over cloning [Video]

Let's face it: Social game creators have ripped ideas from one another since the games landed on Facebook. While Zynga has seemingly made its billions that way, that's certainly not to say it kick started a trend. Regardless, the animosity toward such a practice seems to have come to head this month, as Zynga has been accused twice of copying game ideas. Jason Bailey, CEO of Vancouver-based Pot Farm creator East Side Games, however, seems quite optimistic about the ordeal.

During a talk at a recent Full Indie meet up in Vancouver, Bailey wholly recognized that Zynga's ideas might not be 100 percent original. That said, he also doesn't seem to think that it's all so terrible. In fact, Bailey says that, clones or not, Zynga's games add something that might have been missing from the source material whether it be a social feature or clever payment structure.

Perhaps Bailey has a point, but does that make it any more right for a game company to take such an approach? The Pot Farm creator doesn't really address the morality in his frank, very NSFW six-minute talk. (Which, mind you, has nothing to do with his lecture's title, "Virality on Facebook.") Oh yeah, he's also a Zynga shareholder. So, take this video with a dump truck full of salt.

[Editor's Note: We're told that Bailey did not work for Zynga, but rather co-founded Super Rewards, which provided the company with monetization support early on. This article has been edited to reflect that, and we apologize for the error.]

[Image Credit: Useless T-shirts]

Do you think Zynga adds something needed to the games that it allegedly copies? And, if that's the case, does that make it OK? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.