Candy Crush Saga developer King is on a bit of a tear. That's putting things lightly- the developer has just trademarked the word "candy" and is currently going after all the copycats in the Apple app store that have "candy" in their name. They've become so enboldended by this that they've decided to step it up, and their next target is The Banner Saga.
Wait a minute. Don't worry, they said, they're not going after every videogame that has a word or two in common! That would be ridiculous. They're going after only the obvious copycats that are trying to piggback on Candy Crush Saga's enourmous success in order to protect their IP. What kind of evil monsters would file legal opposition to trademarks for no good reason?
Well now, spurned on by the inane legal ruling that threatens to give them access to the word "CANDY" (I mean, really) they're apparently going after the other two words in their name too. How else can you explain why they've now gone after The Banner Saga? That's the new turn-based strategy title with a heavy influence from Vikings and Norse Mythology, the huge Kickstarter success, which has about as much in common with Candy Crush as Candy Crush Saga does with Manhunt.
A spokesperson for the game says "We do not have any concerns that Banner Saga is trying build on our brand or our content. However, like any prudent company, we need to take all appropriate steps to protect our IP, both now and in the future. In this case, that means preserving our ability to enforce our rights in cases where other developers may try to use the Saga mark in a way which infringes our IP rights and causes player confusion. If we had not opposed Banner Saga's trade mark application, it would be much easier for real copy cats to argue that their use of "Saga" was legitimate."
"Prudent company." Stunning, really.
Stoic Studios today released this statement about this whole fiasco on their website.
"Two years ago, the three of us at Stoic set out to make an epic viking game: The Banner Saga. We did, and people loved it, so we're making another one. We won't make a viking saga without the word Saga, and we don't appreciate anyone telling us we can't.
King.com claims they're not attempting to prevent us from using The Banner Saga, and yet their legal opposition to our trademark filing remains.
We're humbled by the outpouring of support and honored to have others stand with us for the right to their own Saga. We just want to make great games."
Let's let them do so. The Banner Saga is an incredible game, a wonderful strategy title that's full of stunningly beautiful animation and a fascinating story, and it's only the first part of a trilogy. For King to hold them up in any way is unconscionable. Shame these people, publicly and loudly. This is bullying at its worst, bullying for no reason. There's not a single person in the world who saw The Banner Saga and mistook it for Candy Crush Saga and for the developer of that shitty, addictive game to throw their weight around like this is deplorable.
There's currently a Change.org petition to stop King from getting the trademarks on these common words- sign it if you can.