Peak Dev Says It Would Rather Players Pirate the Game Than Play 'Microtransaction-Riddled Roblox Slop Ripoff'

Peak Dev Says It Would Rather Players Pirate the Game Than Play ‘Microtransaction-Riddled Roblox Slop Ripoff’

Aggro Crab, the developer of Another Crab’s Treasure and the recently-released co-op survival climbing game Peak, took aim at a Roblox clone version of the latter in a Twitter/X post today, in which the studio said it would rather people pirate Peak than play “this microtransaction-riddled Roblox slop ripoff”.

The post in question shows screenshots of a Roblox game called “Cliff”, which does look suspiciously similar to Aggro Crab’s Peak. Both games feature a round-headed protagonist whose goal is to climb a mountain at the center of an island, an activity that can be accomplished either alone or with friends. Cliff even calls out in its description that it’s inspired by Peak!

Though, “inspired” might be a bit generous. Take a look at the two game descriptions side-by-side. Here’s Peak:

PEAK is a co-op climbing game where the slightest mistake can spell your doom. Either solo or as a group of lost nature scouts, your only hope of rescue from a mysterious island is to scale the mountain at its center. Do you have what it takes to reach the PEAK?

WORK TOGETHER

Need a Hand? You’ll need to rely on your friends to have any hope of scaling the mountain, which changes every single day. Help each other up ledges, or place ropes and climbing spikes to make the way easier for those who come after.

And this is Cliff:

⛰️CLIFF is a challenging climbing game where even the smallest mistake can be your downfall. Trapped on a mysterious island, your only way to escape is to reach the top of the towering cliff. Do you have the skill and courage to make it to the summit?

✋WORK TOGETHER

Need some help? You’ll have to rely on your friends if you want any chance of reaching the top. The mountain is tough, so help each other up ledges and watch out for dangers to make the climb easier for those who come after you.

Woof, that’s…the same? It’s essentially just the same description copied wholesale with some swapped synonyms. And a comparison of the Badges for Cliff and the Steam Achievements for Peak reveals that Cliff also named its “Shore” and “Tropics” biomes directly after Peak’s locations of the same names.

The biggest material difference between the two games, apart from things like quality and scope, is that Cliff has microtransactions. You can buy certain items using Robux including a Climbing Pickaxe, a Parrot Friend, and a Starterpack. Peak doesn’t have any such thing. It’s $8 for the game itself, and that’s it.

This is unfortunately a common phenomenon on Roblox. Plug the name of just about any game, AAA or indie, into Roblox’s search feature and you’ll find countless clones. On just a quick search I was able to find microtransaction-filled variations on Pokemon, Mario, Sonic, Undertale, Untitled Goose Game, Five Nights at Freddy’s (woof, there are LOADS of those), Fortnite, Elden Ring, Stardew Valley, Celeste…I could go on. Some of these games are marketed as homages or fangames, but many just straight-up use stolen assets from the games they’re based on, and others are pretty blatant clones trying to disguise themselves by changing some proper nouns around.

Given Roblox’s historical whack-a-mole approach to moderation it’s hard to say whether or not Aggro Crab’s callout will have any effect on Cliff. But at least the studio has made its wishes known. Probably, the solution is just to buy Peak. But if you’re so desperate you’re going to play Cliff instead, the developers would prefer you engage in some piracy instead.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.



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