[ad_1]
The Store is Closed (opens in a new tab) is an in-development survival game with a funny premise: You are stuck inside an “infinite furniture store”, the mutant is trying to kill you, and the only way to stay alive is to explore the corridors and use the furniture to. craft weapons and fortifications. If that description makes you think of Ikea, the famous Swedish purveyor of assemble-your-own furniture and oddly popular meatballs, you’re not alone: In fact, creator Jacob Shaw called it an “endless Ikea game” on Reddit. (opens in a new tab)like some websites and streamers reporting on the project.
Unfortunately for Shaw, the project drew attention to the real-life Ikea, and its legal representatives sent him a letter demanding that the game be changed, and threatening a lawsuit if it wasn’t.
“Our client has learned that you are developing a video game, The Store is Closed, which uses, without our client’s authorization, clues associated with the famous Ikea stores,” the letter, shared with Shaw’s PC Gamer, states.
“Your game uses a blue and yellow sign with a Scandinavian name on the store, a blue box-like building, yellow vertical striped shirts identical to those worn by Ikea staff, a gray path on the floor, furniture that looks like Ikea furniture, and a product signage that looks like Ikea signage. Everything beforehand immediately suggests that the game takes place in an Ikea store.”
The letter also notes that multiple newspaper reports about the project “make an explicit connection with Ikea,” as well as numerous comments made by readers. And you can certainly understand why: There’s no mistaking the Ikea-inspired touches seen in the announcement trailer, like the big yellow Styr sign on the blue building, or the “Swedish meat” poster on the cafe wall.
The good news for Shaw is that Ikea’s lawyers are not demanding that the project be stopped, only that it be changed so that it doesn’t look like, “or suggest,” an Ikea store. “You can easily make changes to your game to avoid these issues, especially since you don’t plan to release the game until 2024,” the letter states.
The bad news is that he’s not quite sure how to do that. Some aspects of the project, such as blue and yellow colors, seem clearly inspired by Ikea, but he is not sure what to make of “furniture that looks like Ikea furniture”, for example.
“I bought generic furniture assets to make this game,” Shaw told Kotaku (opens in a new tab). “I don’t know what that means.”
Speaking to PC Gamer, Shaw said he would comply with the demands because he would “really prefer not to be sued,” but reiterated his uncertainty about what exactly will satisfy Ikea: “Their requests are a little vague. Like, ‘furniture that’ looks like like Ikea furniture,’ that’s not particularly specific.”
His solution for now is to “basically just rip out anything that’s blue or yellow and add a little bit of fuzzy red all over,” he said. „Remove all the Scandinavian furniture, change all the posters, probably remove the road [from the floor].”
As for the furniture, he said that some of the items in the furniture packages he bought have Scandinavian names, so he’s going to start getting rid of those.
Shaw shared some images showing a quick look at the possible new look:
But even if he is able to change the game to Ikea’s satisfaction, the legal threat has left him with other concerns. “It makes me very nervous to change the color scheme to something else,” he said. “What if Target sued me for using red?”
Despite this surprising legal headache, Shaw continues with development on The Store is Closed, although his plan for the last week of its ongoing (and very successful) Kickstarter campaign. (opens in a new tab) changed: Instead of a new game update to prepare for alpha testing, he’s working on the visual overhaul instead. And it shouldn’t make a “huge difference” to the overall development schedule, he said: “Just more stress.”
[ad_2]
Source link