So King.com, the guys that made Candy Crush Saga (that Bejeweled clone infected with microtransactions) have nearly managed to trademark the word "candy" for use in the App Store. It was approved for publication on the 15th of this month by the United States, with only a few weeks to go before it's official. If made official, it would mean that any other application in the Store with the word "candy" in it either has to change the name or pony up the cash in court.
Total bull, right?
It get's better - now these...people, have decided to go after a game with whom they fear that the titling of such may confuse customers when they try to buy CCS.
Yep, that game is - Wait.
The Banner Saga? The indie Viking strategy/turn-based RPG with the beautiful-yet-nostalgia-inducing artwork? The one where you lead your desperate clan to safety from invaders that have taken the land from them? That one. The one where there's no candy involved, just a fight for survival in a cold world.
...right. Never mind the fact that "saga" literally means "viking epic."
Back on December 27th, King filed a "Notice of Opposition" with the US Patent and Trademark Office against Stoic, the folks who made The Banner Saga. In it, they argue that because they hold 13 (!) trademarks with the word "saga" Stoic is not allowed to use the word. For fear that again, a colorful, beautiful, hand drawn game about Vikings trying to survive against a foreign invasion, would be mistaken with some game about colliding candy until you lose lives then pony up some real cash to keep playing up until you've lost your paycheck for the week.
Read this - Applicant is Stoic, Opposer is King:
So, no money grabs here, King just wants the name of Stoic's title changed if CCS gets approved first. To be fair, this sort of thing is common: where one company will file against another company with a similarly titled product just to protect its own from outside copycats.
However, it wouldn't be so maddening if King weren't going up against a small indie studio, though. The little guy who just wants to make a great game versus the second coming of Angry Birds. A game that just so happened grow big enough to let their creators get heads parallel in size.
Let's hope that Stoic gets out of this alright. They're going to fight it out with King, so good luck to them.
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- Here's King's take on the situation and why they're going through with this.
- Stoic on VG247, explaining why a sequel isn't possible right now due to the claim.
------This is The Banner Saga
This is CCS
--- Kotaku, VG247
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