Dear Reader:
GRIS appears to have been ripped off by a self-care app (UPDATE)
The Fabulous app (@GetTheFabulous) ripped off GRIS and is reminder to all devs to be mindful of big companies and brands stealing creative work from smaller studios. pic.twitter.com/scg20wt4Vj
— Devolver Digital (@devolverdigital) November 5, 2019
GRIS is an absolutely gorgeous game and a moving experience all wrapped in one. Apparently it moved one company to theft, as you can see in the comparison video above.
The Fabulous app on mobile, which is a self-care app, seems to have drawn an absolute ton of inspiration from GRIS. This looks to go beyond being an homage, and drifts over into the area of flat-out copycat. What do you think of the comparison between the two? Would you consider this theft, or flattery?
UPDATE: The team behind the Fabulous app has shared a statement with Gamasutra on the matter.
“Fabulous has a mission to help people lead healthier lives, and we started this 5 years ago. From the very beginning, and as we are gamers ourselves, we were inspired by games like Journey, Monument Valley, and books like the Little Prince or The Alchemist, to create our universe.
We have a team of 2 artists and freelancers, and that video was created a few months ago. We're still investigating this as all of this has been sudden, but any wrongdoing from our side is not intentional. It might be that one of our artists or freelancers got inspired by a game that they liked.”