I'm quite disappointed that this interview doesn't mention the <i>actual</i> influence: Threes![1].<p>That said, the authors of Threes! are happy to see their ideas spread and according to wikipedia are ok with the clones[2].<p>As for comparing the games, Threes! is much harder than 2048 and friends. I recommend checking it out if you haven't yet.<p>[1] <a href="http://asherv.com/threes/" rel="nofollow">http://asherv.com/threes/</a>
[2] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threes!#cite_ref-28" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threes!#cite_ref-28</a>