I agree: even if the descriptions of Threes (never played it) are only half true, they are completely different genres: one is a deep puzzler that aims for the

I agree: even if the descriptions of Threes (never played it) are only half true, they are completely different genres: one is a deep puzzler that aims for the kind of challenge that some absolutely do require to accept a game as entertainment but many others would consider borderline work, the other is a super casual routine builder that derives its quality only from the challenge of balancing full autopilot mode with maintaining a bit of attention. I 'd guess that not only would the latter have failed (silently, not spectacularly) if the author had tried to sell it on some app store instead of just putting it out on the web, the former would just as certainly not have gone viral like 2048 did. I absolutely do share your belief that 2048 (and the resulting discussions) has sold far more Threes than Threes ever did, or rather than Threes would have in a timeline where 2048 never happened. (PS: and on a more meta level, people like us feeling super clever about "2048 helped Threes!" might be the secret sauce responsible for much of the longevity of the games' shared virality)