The anti-AI games post from angry gamers are frustratingly naive. Every one of your favorite games is derivative of a previous game! The greatest game designers crib from the top charts.

Shariki was probably the first match 3 game, created by Russian programmer Eugene Alemzhin in 1988. Popcap added jewel fiction and it became Bejeweled, which EA bought, and that was forked into Candy Crush Saga and Puzzle & Dragons. Each new generation generated massively more revenue than the prior. Interestingly, there are roots in matching rock games going back to Roman emperor Hadrian.

Tetris came out in 1984 (there’s an awesome Apple TV movie on this, wild story) and sold almost 200 million copies. It was endlessly copied and sparked a handful of puzzle genres: Swapping became merging, balls and blocks became jewels, candy, and bubbles. Progression maps and character combat showed up in some variants. Like in match 3, each generation became more fun and more profitable.

The history of game making is reverse engineering and so is its future. And that future is bright.