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I’m not going to directly throw TUQSOFT under the bus, I’ll let the Android faithful decide, but iSource has pointed out a pretty pitiful business plan that some may classify as scam: TUQSOFT is selling screenshots of iOS Games on Android Market. Not only that… they’re making bank.
I know this isn’t the only developer raking it in, but we’ll use this example to examine the issue.
Think about the process:
- Someone searches for a popular game title
- They see the game title in the results
- They click through and see familiar screen shots
- They buy the app
- They later realize they just paid $1 for a screenshot
TUQSOFT has made at least $36,000 selling their repurposed iOS screenshots and it could be MUCH more; I just took the minimum number from the download range to base my estimate. With Android Market’s shortened return policy (15 minutes) by the time a user realizes they haven’t actually downloaded a game it could be too late to return. And it seems that either users really like paying $1 for screenshots or a lot of people don’t figure it out in that 15 minute span.
As with any story, there are two sides and I’ll objectively tell both.
Side 1: TUQSOFT are Scammers
You could argue that TUQSOFT is preying on the uninformed consumer. They’re clearly making Wallpapers based on popular titles. These titles are likely trademarked terms and the average consumer might assume the source is legit. The description is written to sound enticing as if the game – not a wallpaper – is on sale. Take for example their Bejeweled Blitz LiveW description:
Certainly seems like they’re trying to confuse consumers while slipping in the live wallpaper mention to cover themselves legally. Of course legally, I’m sure the actual developer of the game could issue a C&D to have their “app” removed from the market. I feel slimey and miserable myself just calling a screenshot an app.
Side 2: TUQSOFT is Playing Fair
You could also argue that TUQSOFT is playing fair and consumers shouldn’t be so stupid. The app is classified as personalization, the titles say LiveW, the description says they are wallpapers if you read them all, the ratings aren’t very good, the comments further explain people are unhappy because they’ve downloaded an image rather than a game, and if you did any research you’d realize this isn’t what you actually wanted to download.
What do YOU think?
There is obviously a grey area here. I think a large number of people probably quickly download the app, don’t test it out until a little bit later, and by the time they realize they took the bait, the 15 minute return policy has expired.
[polldaddy poll=4495058]
Personally I think Google needs to extend their return policy. It used to be 24 hours which I can understand might be too long, but I think 15 minutes is way too short. Any way you look at it, the fact that TUQSOFT has made $36,000+ on selling screenshots of someone else’s games is like highway robbery.
[Via iSource]
They did not make at minimum $36,000. If a user does refund, it still counts as a download. It’s quite possible for them to have lost money on the entire venture if they had to account for chargebacks with foreign currency charges and everyone wound up refunding.
I think apps should have a 24 refund policy, while games should have an hour, this would make a happy medium.
Or allow the developer to choose.
Better yet, why not have all games download as a free lite version and use in-app purchasing to upgrade to the paid app?
whats up with the 2 comments saying its a good game lol? Developers posting comments on their own app?
Good point on downloads not reflecting returns. But something tells me they wouldn’t keep their stuff on the market if it was losing money.
extend return times back to 24 hours half the time if i download a large app i cant even use it within 15 mins maybe 5 hours google come on 15 mins is nothing
@4 Whilst 15 minutes is pretty short, 24 hours is too much. You can’t attract developers if the refund window is long enough that someone can buy your game, finish it and refund it. It makes it hard for them to predict and deal with revenue and Android needs to be developer friendly. An hour or 30 minutes would be fair.
I side with the ‘scammers’ here. 15 minutes may not be very long, but if you blindly download something without even looking at the ratings or description AND don’t check what you’ve downloaded right away, tough shit.
People will obviously complain, but they’re playing by the rules as set out by Google. People seem to increasingly want a safe, perfectly-sanitised world these days where they have no responsibility for their actions and can blame the consequences on everyone else. Real life doesn’t work that way.
As soon as TUQSOFT realized some people were mistakenly purchasing their product thinking it was the actual game, they should have taken steps to make it blatantly obvious that it is only a wallpaper. “LiveW” and confusing description text don’t cut it.
By not making that change, they have clearly shown that they are counting on that confusion and are unethical and immoral.
@5 i agree 1 hour sounds about right
I always look at ratings and full description on everything including what section an app falls under. If people cant think for themselves maybe they should be scammed a dollar. I even follow those rules with free apps.
@7 There are no ethics or morals when it comes to business. If there were, arms dealers wouldn’t exist. You make money how you can and if that means not releasing 2.2 for your device or misleading customers, so be it.
Not everyone is like that and that’s why I like Google, but I have no problem with the so-called scammers behaving how they are.
return window should be 20-25 mins anymore and certain gamers can finish a game in that time
These are the types of “developers” that want the no return or 15 minute return policy. Anyone making a worthwhile app would be fine with a reasonable return policy–a few hours or so.
SCAM. They don’t mentions its a wallpaper. They say “LiveW”. Fuckers…
I blame the consumers. There’s usually a free version available to try out before you go ahead and buy one. If not you better check the comments and see what other people are saying. That’s just common sense IMO.
Stupid asses!! It clearly says LiveW!!!!!!! Thats a red flag right there.
15 minutes is mostly fine. Except for apps that require downloads after purchase. Most of the team these excess downloads don’t work and it gets friggen annoying. Other times theres no way you can download a gigabyte in 15 minutes.
Not that I think they aren’t purposely misleading consumers into purchases they potentially wont be able to back out of, but there are some people that actually want live wallpapers of these games.
That of course doesn’t mean that the original game developer has licensed these individuals to use their IP. Any game developer will take any opportunity they can to get additional money on their work so if the market for live wallpapers was large enough they would be putting these apps up themselves. Or taking advantage of marketing to give them away.
IMO , what they had in mind when they did this was scamming or lets say “fooling” people . Its anything but reasonable to say that TUQSOFT never thought customers will be fooled this way . That said , i think they intended to scam .. and did a pretty good job at it .
TUQSOFT is clearly hoping that consumers will be confused and buy the screenshot believing it’s an app. Apparently they were successful, even if some/many realized this afterward and returned it. But consumers have to take some responsibility for their own stupidity.
This reminds me of when people were paying upwards of $500 on eBay for “the above pictured photo of an X Box”, only realizing their mistake when their purchase arrived in an envelope.
guys. the assets are still copyrighted. you can’t sell a screenshot of another product legally especially with the same title.
well i know the first place im going to look for great games is in the live wallpaper section
wow
They’re selling property of others. They didn’t draw or create or render the screen-shots. This seems to be a clear case of copyright infringement. The makers of these games should be notified so that they can issue a C&D order.
… and they are semi-scamming users: Making it hard to figure out that it’s a wall-paper and not a game.
Scam!!! Enough said.
There’s all kinds of illegal stuff on the market that Google is not removing. For example, all the emulation stuff that includes ROMs. Also, there’s a ton of Disney stuff which is not licensed. Then, look at all the clocks and wallpapers from sports teams, illegal if not licensed (which they are not). I’m really shocked that these scammers have got away with this kind of stuff as long as they have. Google really needs to police this and crack down on these slime-balls.
Scam, probably copyright infringement, they should be removed from the market and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law post haste.
“My victims were stupid” is not a legal or moral defense. There’s no gray here at all.
There is more than just the lack of ethics trying to pass off as a real game. They are blatantly using other company art work (screen shots, names, and logos. This IS illegal.
=X=
Another trend that is also close to a scam is companies are using Google logo’s and google’s name in their product making it sound as if they are the real deal.
If you set aside any copyright issues then this is 100% fair. The wording of the description is satisfactory. Anyone who reads it all the way through will understand what they’re buying. I could understand if the description was 10,000 words in length, but it’s not. Stupid people buy things they don’t mean to all the time. To prey on those people is genius not evil.
This is clearly predatory.
I suspect it won’t be very long before the owner of some of those trademarked games sues them, and they’ll be out a lot more than the $36K or so they’ve taken in.
Not only are they scammers, they’re stupid scammers.
Is it even Live wallpaper? I’m thinking probably not. They probably just couldn’t think of a way to shorten “wallpaper” and make it sound vague.
I got scammed at a Modern Comat 2 game… Fuck TUQSOFT! I’m REPORTING THEM! MOTHER FUCKERS YOU FUCKEN SCAMMERS
Um. This is a trademark violation, plain and simple.
That the counter-argument is “well people shouldn’t be so stupid as to not realize they’re getting scammed” doesn’t mean that they’re not getting scammed. It means the scammer is making an effort to not look like a scammer. Sorry, still a scammer.
A “live wallpaper” screenshot of Bejeweled for $1? Sold by someone other than the makers of Bejeweled? Sorry, there’s no way that’s not a scam and trademark violation. This is what trademark law is there to prevent. Use it.
I hate to say it but Apple definitely leads the way in customer protection on this front (all be it taken way too far). I wonder what Google has to gain if anything in letting apps like this remain on its Marketplace?
When Google announced the 15 min policy a handful of my dev friends bragged jokingly of doing this very thing. List an app with a few pointless functions that would keep the buyer busy for 7 to ten minutes just trying to figure out how to use. Therefor eating up the majority of the refund window and betting most wouldn’t be able to get a refund.
And to think we used to actually concern ourselves with creating and selling value added products.
Dev’s like this only further justify my desire to hack first and buy later. Which I wholly admit takes revenue away from everyone.
Developerus Emptor: developers beware. As a growing micro industry defending ilk like this WILL cost you revenue.
The only apps I have purchased for my Evo have been “Demo’ed” first.
So does the Inspire 4G allow side loading are not?! LOL! Oh, and the Droid Bionic will NOT have MotoBlur. Just saying…
I think the 24 Hour limit was better, it gave the impression that the Developer stood behind their product and I rarely returned an app in that time period. 15 in some places could be less time that it takes to get it installed and the new account the app requires setup etc.
As someone stated above letting the developer decide on the rebate time-frame might be the best option.
What about the apps I paid for but I can no longer download(can’t find them in the Market anymore) even though when I uninstalled it said I could download it again at any time.
its funny cause the comments all say its not the real deal and it has 1 star /5 so who would pay for it!
Google should ban them, they pollute the Marketplace brand. This activity is what ethical people are talking about when they warn about Android.
Second, violence is a solution here. Screw the slowness of the court system, a lead filled pipe across the kneecaps while stop this sh*t fast.
@Tom #28 post,
Your explanation of that it’s OK that you screw your mother because you wear a rubber makes about the same sense as the sh*t you just posted.
People are hesitant enough to purchase apps on the market, why hurt consumer faith by allowing bad business practices? It would seem to me that there are many companies like this on the market and they really take away from the authenticity of the whole place. Google should really be cleaning them up more actively
To me, Google should put the time up to a few hours like 3 of 4 before your charged.
Also people should read feedback before purchase.
Do that and things like this won’t be so profitable
Read the description. Says live wall paper in the title and in the description.
Fail on consumers for not reading that.
That’s pretty ridiculous. I’m surprised that iOS game developers have not issued CDs to protect their brand!
As far as the return window goes. I think it should be a minimum 1hr and developers should be able to extend that.
Well actually the desciption sounds like you get the wallpaper as well as the game. When I had the Nexus S there were many games that I could buy that had both the game and the wallpaper and for that I say shame on the company TUQSOFT. I understand that TUQSOFT is trying to make a profit, but there sales pitch should be based off of the customer with the lowest comprehension skills. TUQSOFT is clearly trying to advertise this as a game not a wallpaper which is sad. I am not trying to let the consumers off the hook they should do just a little bit more research on the products you buy. There are to many viruses, spyware and malware out there to be blindly buy products without at least reading reviews first. I have had the opportunity to buy many products that displayed a 5 star rating. I never bought the product because I went to the review section and saw no reviews. After which I would look at what info the app needed to obtain. I saw that to much of my personal info was needed for a simple game so I did not download it. People need to be more careful the info they give out this a closed ps like the iPhone. I do not believe that we should have that much time to change our mind about a game because this is a business and the developers want to make money. I say we should only have 15 mins, don’t download 20 things and forget about them until after dinner and you should have enough time to see of you want to keep the app. When I had the iPhone I did not have anytime to decide if I like the game or not. Please just be careful guys I would hat to see someone get something they do not want or even worse a virus or something.
Boy I should have read my comment after I typed it, well here is how the message should go without typos: Well actually the desciption sounds like you get the wallpaper as well as the game. When I had the Nexus S there were many games that I could buy that had both the game and the wallpaper and for that I say shame on the company TUQSOFT. I understand that TUQSOFT is trying to make a profit, but there sales pitch should be based off of the customer with the lowest comprehension skills. TUQSOFT is clearly trying to advertise this as a game not a wallpaper which is sad. I am not trying to let the consumers off the hook they should do just a little bit more research on the products you buy. There are to many viruses, spyware and malware out there to be blindly buy products without at least reading reviews first. I have had the opportunity to buy many products that displayed a 5 star rating. I never bought the product because I went to the review section and saw no reviews. After which I would look at what info the app needed to obtain. I saw that to much of my personal info was needed for a simple game so I did not download it. People need to be more careful about the info they give out, this is not a closed os like the iPhone. I also do not believe that we should have that much time to change our mind about a game we buy because this is a business and the developers want to make money. I say we should only have 15 mins, don’t download 20 things and forget about them until after dinner and you should have enough time to see if you want to keep the app. When I had the iPhone I did not have anytime to decide if I liked the game or not after I purchased the app. Please just be careful guys I would hate to see someone get something they do not want or even worse a virus or something.