Scumbag Bethesda strikes again.

Defeat Unknown

Silver Belt
@Silver
Joined
Jul 7, 2013
Messages
10,306
Reaction score
146
https://www.praeyforthegods.com/praey-for-the-gods-newsletter-8/

Wha!? Why are you now PRAEY for the Gods!?

Oh yea that...so we didn’t want to do this but we had to change our game name from Prey for the Gods to Praey for the Gods. Thankfully we get to keep the logo but we will spell it “Praey for the Gods”. Honestly, we could make this entire newsletter about our thoughts on this. Trademark law is what we were dealing with and we aren’t under any NDA so we can state the opposition in this situation, Bethesda/Zenimax.
We could’ve fought this and we did think about it for quite a while. 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.


The truth is we initially thought about naming the game Præy for the Gods prior to our initial trailer. The logo has both the woman praying against the duality of prey, and thankfully we get to continue to use that. We figured people would have a hard time trying to type in the æ symbol in search engines etc. This was back in 2015 when we posted a trailer on Facebook and Twitter with had no idea if 100 or even 1000 people would watch the trailer. We were applying for both Prey for the Gods, and Præy for the Gods trademarks shortly after as we realized the extent of what we were making. Unfortunately, Zenimax chose to oppose our mark, as they felt both were too similar to their mark “Prey” which they purchased from Id Software, in 2009. While we disagree with their opposition we were able to come to an agreement.


It was something that kept me up many nights, and no doubt shifted our focus from our game frequently. Worrying about the outcome if we went to trial, if we’d lose our fans or walk away from the mark and still potentially get sued for millions on trademark infringement. This is really something no starting company should have to deal with let alone a tiny team of 3. So the fact that we came out the other end intact still developing the game was a win. One that will no doubt shape our company moving forward.

So basically, Bethesda/Zenimax went after this small independent studio of 3 people for using the word "Prey" in their kickstarter project. Because they're a small team, working with kickstarter funds, they had to change the name of their game.

Ready to boycott this company. They've done this too much.
 
I'm just one man and in the grande scheme of things my buying choices don't matter much to a company this size, but it's the best way to make my voice heard, I suppose.

Just removed Dishonored 2, Fallout 4 and Prey from my Steam wishlist.
 
Meh I could see where there could be possible confusion over the title name
Smart move Bethesda
 
https://www.praeyforthegods.com/praey-for-the-gods-newsletter-8/



So basically, Bethesda/Zenimax went after this small independent studio of 3 people for using the word "Prey" in their kickstarter project. Because they're a small team, working with kickstarter funds, they had to change the name of their game.

Ready to boycott this company. They've done this too much.

It does not seem that Bethesda went after them, but did opposed the companies Trade Mark request. In the end the company had to change the spelling in the game title, but gets to keep the original trailer. Seems like a good compromise.
 
They are still waaaay behind EA and Ubisoft for scummy practices.
 
You guys clearly don't understand how copyright and trademark laws work. You have to aggressively protect them or you will lose them.

It isn't about being a scumbag. They could fuck themselves over by letting too many people even slightly infringe.

I'd be more mad at them for turning Elder Scrolls and Fallout into giant pieces of shit than this.
 
"Star Wars for the Galaxy"

"Fallout of the Gods"

"Uncharted In Africa"

"Gear of War in an Engine"

"Forza Space Race"

How does that work... sherbro lawyers will think it fine but IAAL in this field and there's no reason to name your game Prey when it's a franchise.

I do have an issue with the Cyberpunk trademark for a certain reasons relating to nuances of trademark/copyright law any nonspecialist lawyer and especially a civilian couldn't comprehend.
 
This is the way copyright or trademarks laws work. If you dont pursue legal action, you lose the rights since you aren't "actively protecting it" or some shit. Insane, but true.

It was the same thing with Notch and his scrolls game.
 
This is the way copyright or trademarks laws work. If you dont pursue legal action, you lose the rights since you aren't "actively protecting it" or some shit. Insane, but true.

It was the same thing with Notch and his scrolls game.

That's not true regarding copyright. Trademarks, yes, to an extent. However the only cases I know of have been over the span of multiple years (decades), and even then the courts decided in favour of the trademark holder, but the punishment was basically to stop using the trademarked name.

I can understand why both parties did what they did.
 
Last edited:
That's not true regarding copyright. Trademarks, yes, to an extent. However the only cases I know of have been over the span of multiple years (decades), and even then the courts decided in favour of the trademark holder, but the punishment was basically to stop using the trademarked name.

I can understand why both parties did what they did.
Yeah, I meant it as one or the other, but I couldn't remember which.
 
Meh it's just business. Not a big deal imo.
 
This reminds me of the guy that ran Edge Games, Tim Langdell. He was suing or blocking anyone that used the word Edge in their games, even going as far as doing it against EA for Mirror's Edge and Namco for Soul Edge. That guy had a real screw loose.
 
"Star Wars for the Galaxy"

"Fallout of the Gods"

"Uncharted In Africa"

"Gear of War in an Engine"

"Forza Space Race"

How does that work... sherbro lawyers will think it fine but IAAL in this field and there's no reason to name your game Prey when it's a franchise.

I do have an issue with the Cyberpunk trademark for a certain reasons relating to nuances of trademark/copyright law any nonspecialist lawyer and especially a civilian couldn't comprehend.
I'm not a lawyer but common sense should tell you that you can't just own a word wholly and totally. If they game looked like some kind of knock off, I would agree that yeah maybe they should be forced to change the title. But click on it and instead of an FPS where you are shooting aliens, it's a cartoony game with dragons and some Celtic chick. No one is getting those two things confused. And honestly, I don't think that Bethesda would win this case if the company had the funds to push back. I've seen it tried by Fox with "Fair and Balanced" and that company that owns Candy Crush Saga that tried to force Banner Saga to change the names. Neither won. And they shouldn't. You don't get to just own words wholly and totally
 
Ultimate Fighting Challenge
Superior Fighting Championships
Ultimate Fighting Series
Ultimate MMA

Scumbag UFC brass for not letting Scott Coker use the names his people came up with. Think he wants to call his org Bellator.
 
I just watched the gameplay trailer from this game

The makers of Shadow of the colossus should send them a cease and desist as well

Game looks like a complete ripoff
 
Back
Top