Design, ESPECIALLY user-centric design is so difficult to get right. Epic Systems, one of the largest medical software companies in the world, has an entire research department dedicated solely to finding the optimal way to present information and options to their users. Since their users are typically old doctors who hate needing to learn new ways of doing things, this is among their highest valued divisions.
When UI designers find something that works, people are going to copy it. That doesn’t mean it’s ripped-off, it means R&D paid off.
Case-in-point video game controllers have slowly but surely converged into the ABXY, D-pad, 2xbumper+trigger pair, 2 analogue stick design with a system button and two more meta control buttons. Any ventures beyond that (index finger paddles, track pads, etc) have all found a way to fit into that schema.
Additionally, that “click the stick to see important items” mechanic that was made famous as Arkham’s detective mode has made its way into basically any game that has any sort of secondary puzzle-solving mechanic (Batman Arkham, The Witcher, Spider-man, etc). It also shows up in tactical games to let you tag items or characters of interest (Splinter Cell, Crysis, Last of Us, etc)
Furthermore, entire genres are built out of good user experiences. FPS wouldn’t exist without the slick mechanic implementations of Wolfenstein 3D and DOOM. FPS on console wouldn’t exist without Halo’s intuitive control schema which Call of Duty 2 would later improve upon and ultimately become the default console FPS layout.
Good design is hard to come by, so yeah if it’s good it will be replicated.
