If you released a Swing Copters clone on Google Play yesterday, it’s probably not available to download anymore.
Google cleaned up its Android app store today by eliminating a ton of clones that used Swing Copters name or art assets (as Android OS newsite Phandroid first spotted). Flappy Bird developer Dong Nguyen released his latest game on iOS and Android yesterday, and opportunist developers were ready to try to steal some of flying game’s attention with apps that featured an identical name and lifted art. Today, when you search for Swing Copters on the Play store, Nguyen’s game pops up first and it’s the only one with that name. This is likely part of Google’s wider efforts to create a better experience on its app market for both developers as well as uses who don’t want to accidentally download something inauthentic.
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Gamers that hopped on Google Play yesterday looking for Swing Copters might have had difficulty finding it. Here’s what it looked like at one point yesterday when you put “Swing Copters” into the search field on Google Play:
Above: More than a dozen games using the Swing Copters name yesterday on Google Play.
Today, you get something completely different with the same search:
Now, as you can see, today’s search still comes back with a bunch of clones, but none use the same name or assets as the real Swing Copters. Nguyen’s game is also the first result. Yesterday, the authentic version was occasionally buried under other games.
As for stuff like Swing Bird and Copters Man, well — those clones have done enough to survive today’s purge. They didn’t copy the name or use any of the art from Swing Copters, so Google is letting them live.