The Attack of the Roblox Clones

In late August, a small indie game developer named FindTheNeedleDev announced their new game, Find the Needle. The game, which has a demo available on Steam, is a tongue-in-cheek homage to the classic expression of “finding the needle in the haystack.”

In addition to dropping the demo, he also published a launch trailer for the game. Both the game and the videos for it went viral on various social media platforms. According to the developer, the demo was listed as one of the top ten demos on Steam and has found massive success on various video platforms.

The game is not slated to be released until the fourth quarter of this year.

However, much to the chagrin of the developer, those wanting to play this kind of game have other options. According to a video shared by them, just as the original Find the Needle game was getting massive attention, dozens of clones of the game were appearing on Roblox (and also Fortnite).

It would be easy to dismiss the clones, but according to the video, some have amassed tens of thousands of players and earned significant revenue.

However, FindTheNeedleDev is not the first developer to face this particular problem. Similar viral games have been repeatedly cloned, often using the same name, on Roblox and similar platforms.

So what can indie game developers do to prevent this from happening? The answer is likely not much.

Understanding the Problem

To be clear, FindTheNeedleDev is far from the first developer to face this issue. The 2023 game Lethal Company saw a flood of clones on Roblox, that trend is continuing to this day. The game Exit 8 has also faced similar issues. Finally, for this list, Buckshot Roulette, a game released in 2024, has also been cloned multiple times on Roblox.

In short, nothing here is new or unique to Find the Needle.

What these games have in common is that they are all relatively simple games from a mechanical standpoint. Though their new mechanics may be novel, they are relatively straightforward and easy to understand.

That simplicity is what makes them so easy to clone.

However, the issue goes well beyond just the nature of the games. Roblox’s development tools make it incredibly easy to create new games. A game that might take months to develop for consoles or PCs can often be recreated (at least somewhat convincingly) in a few days on Roblox.

This can be especially difficult for games like Find the Needle, which often go viral before they are officially released. Not only can Roblox developers quickly clone the game, but they can release their versions of it before the original developer has a chance.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can also be used to speed up the cloning process. Aggro Crab, the developers of the game Peak, referred to one of their Roblox clones as a “slop rip-off.”

To make matters worse, many of these clone games are earning significant revenue. Roblox offers developers a variety of ways to monetize their games. Many of these clones get tens of thousands of players and can earn significant revenue through ads, subscriptions and other in-game purchases.

So this cloning poses a very real problem for creators. Especially smaller indie developers, who are the most common target for these clones. Unfortunately, there may not be much that they can do about it.

The Legal Problem

Video game clones have been around for almost as long as video games themselves. Though the practice has waxed and waned as the industry has evolved, for every popular game, there’s always been someone willing to cash in on it by making a clone.

But, despite the ubiquity of the practice, there hasn’t been much that developers have been able to do.

The reason is simple. Copyright law, the most common legal tool for protecting computer software, does not protect game mechanics or the ideas behind a game. It can only protect the expression of those ideas. So, if a game doesn’t use art assets, code, sound files or other protectable elements from a game, a clone is often perfectly legal.

We saw this firsthand with Nintendo’s legal efforts to stop the game Palworld. Nintendo used a variety of legal tools, most notably patent law, to try and stop the game. It ultimately failed. Though Palworld is not a clone of Pokemon per se, it raised many of the same issues.

If Nintendo can’t stop Palworld, then it’s unlikely that an indie game developer can stop clones of their game, especially when they appear en masse.

But this is, relatively speaking, old news. What has changed is that the clones are now appearing ahead of the original game. The severely truncated development cycle created by Roblox and AI tools, means that developers can learn about a future game that has generated a great deal of interest and then release their own versions of it first.

Historically, clones have been seen as lesser versions of the original game. They come out later and, though similar, aren’t seen as a real alternative to the original. Now they come out first and swallow the market before the original game is even released.

Unfortunately for the developers, there is no easy way to prevent this. Getting hype for a game before it is released is essential for a game’s success. However, if someone can create and publish a clone of the game before it is released, they likely will do so in a bid to capitalize on that hype.

I don’t see any good options for developers. Sadly, the people who can fix this problem are the ones with the least motivation to do so.

Bottom Line

If I were a developer looking for a legal angle, I would be looking toward trademark law. Since these clones are made on a different platform, they aren’t likely to share code, assets or other elements of the original game. However, many may cross the line of causing consumer confusion as to what is and is not the official game.

Still, that’s a big ask for an indie developer. Enforcing a trademark is much more difficult to do than enforcing a copyright. You can’t simply file a copyright notice with Roblox and have the game removed. Lawsuits are expensive and unlikely to be financially worthwhile, even if they are successful.

Instead, I turn my focus onto Roblox and Fortnite themselves. My question is simple: why do they tolerate these clones? Obviously, they make money from them, but do they really want their platform to be known as havens for knockoff games?

Roblox lost $70 billion in value last month and blamed it on the lack of viral games. Having dozens of Find the Needle clones on the platform is not going to turn that around. The platform needs original ideas that will bring people in, not endless cash-grab clones of other popular games.

Simply put, it’s in Roblox’s best interest to crack down on these types of parasitic clones. Even if they aren’t infringing in any way, they are hurting the platform’s reputation. If you want to be known as a place for unique and original experiences, you can’t let your site be known as a place that is overrun with quickly made clones of other popular games.

Sadly, I doubt that will motivate Roblox to take action. Even if it winds up sinking them in the long run.