That is one of the claims made by Chief Creative Officer at PopCap Games.

Cheap "knock-offs" and copycats of successful games are hindering the casual gaming market. That is what the Chief Creative Officer at PopCap Games Jason Kapalka had to say.

Due to low development cost of creating casual games, developers are able to churn out these games quickly, rather than spending their time creatively.

"Very few games are developed without reference to past games. There's always going to be titles that build on a previous mechanic or game. But there's a fine line between that and very bold-faced rip-offs that aren't adding anything to the game and are just trying to make a quick buck," said Kapalka, in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz.

"There's games like that in the hardcore gaming market of course, but the problem in the casual space is that the investment in resources can be a lot less. So a three person studio isn't going to build a knock-off of Warcraft. But they could crank out a clone of Bejewelled in a few months. The barrier to entry is a lot lower so you get a lot more of it."

Kapalka is also worried about the prospect of fewer "original" games being created, due to developers having the ability to make a quick buck with copycat casual games.

"The worry is that it encourages a lot of independent developers to churn out these cheap clones instead of original projects. They think they can do a quick knock-off to help pay the bills and then they can work on their big magnum opus but that rarely happens. Once you start down that road of making rip-off games you never make a huge fortune off it and you end up working hand-to-mouth."