Following Trademark Dispute With Bethesda, “Prey for the Gods” Receives Name Change
In what may seem like an all too often occurrence in the video game industry, another trademark dispute has taken place. This time around, Bethesda and its parent company ZeniMax took the battle to indie developers No Matter Studios. The cause for such action? Concern regarding the trademark for Prey. As some of you may know, Prey is the upcoming sci-fi thriller from Bethesda that is set to release on May 5. The indie developer has a title entering Closed Alpha phase, and it is called Prey for the Gods. Readers might be able to pick up on what comes next.
According to a newsletter from No Matter, they had to change the name of the game due to a trademark dispute with Bethesda/ZeniMax. They mentioned, “We could’ve fought this and we did think about it for quite a while.” The developer brought this up in the newsletter because it had become quite apparent that the title was changed. It is now Praey for the Gods, a name they had contemplated calling it before the first trailer was released. Why not fight it, though? It’s unlikely that anyone would confuse the two games. Well, No Matter Studios offered up a solid reason:
Something like a trademark opposition can be long and depending on how far someone wants to fight it can be very expensive. We didn’t want to spend our precious Kickstarter funds, nor did we want to have to ask for additional funds to fight this in court. Using backer money towards something that doesn’t go towards the development or backer rewards felt horrible to us. Even if we did win we’d have to spend a solid chunk of our funds and in our opinion it wasn’t worth it.”
While the small team of three at No Matter Studios doesn’t agree with the trademark dispute, they have found that elusive silver lining in the whole situation. They still get to use their logo and most importantly, they are still able to continue working on the video game. Had they fought it, Bethesda/ZeniMax might have destroyed any future for the indie project. For more about the title, one can find that here. To see Praey for the Gods in action, check out the video below:
After seeing what the indie video game is all about, it can be hard to see why Bethesda/ZeniMax would go after it with a trademark dispute. The two titles are drastically different in almost every aspect. Well, VP of PR/Marketing at Bethesda Pete Hines has served up the reasoning, stating “We really didn’t have a choice.” This was in a tweet to someone questioning how he could defend the action taken. Here is that exchange:
We really didn’t have much of a choice. If we don’t oppose the mark, we risk losing our Prey trademark. We don't really have a choice.
— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) May 3, 2017
In the thread above, Hines also goes on to say its never a great time a situation like this arises. He certainly isn’t wrong about that. What do the gamers have to say? Is Bethesda the bad guy for wanting to protect their trademark, or did they do the right thing? Drop a thought or two in the comments section below. As always, be sure to follow DFTG on Twitter for live gaming and entertainment news 24/7. If it is more reading that you’re needing, check out the following:
Eric Garrett2269 Posts
Eric is an editor and writer for Don't Feed the Gamers. When he is not staring at a computer screen filled with text, he is usually staring at a computer screen filled with controllable animations. Today's youth call this gaming. He also likes to shoot things. With a camera, of course.
