Paper.io’s Success Is a Testament to Splix.io’s Mobile Failure

You know what’s a pretty great .io game on browser? Splix.io, that’s what. You know what’s a mediocre .io game on mobile? Also Splix.io. Which is one of the bigger reasons its lesser clone Paper.io has come to be so popular.

The basic premise behind both Splix.io and Paper.io is pretty simple: You start with a color square and have to branch out, surround blank squares or other peoples’ territory, and return to your color to take over more territory for yourself. If someone cuts into your ribbon, you’re dead. As simple as that.

Splix.io found its way on the internet sometime last year and was an original game… and here comes developer Voodoo with Paper.io a few months later, claiming the game is “a new and fun experience inspired by io type games” when in fact it is a direct copy of Jester the End’s Splix. Way to be original, guys.

So original.

Now, no one is saying Splix looks better than Paper. Truth is, much of Paper.io‘s growing popularity on mobile is because it looks better. It’s bright and, well… looks like paper. That’s great and all, but did you know you are not playing against real people?

Yessiree, the other “players” in Paper.io are all bots. Sure is great not being able to compete against other people’s territory advancement strategies. Also loads of fun ads are thrown at you with no warning after you die, and you will be dealing with a ton of lag for no reason. It’s not even an online game, there is no excuse for the lag.

This all sounds terrible but it’s honestly a better alternative to the Splix.io app, which is not only more laggy than Paper but it has a plethora of server issues that not only lag in-game but make it so some players can’t connect at all.

Your best bet for this type of game is to play Splix.io on your computer’s browser, but on the go you really can’t win. If Jasper the End would put more effort into the mobile version it would knock Paper.io out of the park, but as it stands his (original) game has floundered on mobile devices and that’s not about to change. There is no worthwhile way to play this game on mobile, except by playing Paper. Shame.