Bethesda Likely Forces Indie Game Fenix Rage Name Change Due To Use Of "Rage" Word

Tiny Costa Rican developer Lava Studios will not be able to port its Fenix Rage platform game to Playstation 4 and Xbox One under its current name. An unnamed corporation, but likely publisher Bethesda, has the gaming rights to a word in the game’s title, likely “Rage,” which forces the smaller studio to change its branding. Legal matters are expensive and a team of three people cannot go up against this large, unmentioned entity. It seems that even mentioning the specifics flat-out can be litigious, as the press release never directly addresses it, instead renaming the project as Fenix 4@93. In a list of questions, the release also states:

Q: So, a video game company is copyrighting the word “Rage”?

A: We didn’t say that, but seems that way, yes.

This sort of behavior has happened around publisher Bethesda before, where developer Mojang of Minecraft fame had to address concerns to its latest project, called Scrolls. This latter example collided with the popular Elder Scrolls franchise. Scrolls would eventually not go beyond its testing phase and it was announced earlier this year that the game would be abandoned.

In another case, indie publisher Nkidu Games had to change titles twice, before arriving to its current form. Two of its other label choices were met with similar forceful demands to alter their name.

The Fenix platform game is still headed to PS4 and Xbox One this holiday season. Fans of games like Super Meat Boy may want to take a look. Previously, Fenix Rage on PC was able to snag the GameMaker engine’s Game of the Year Award, beating titles like Gods Will Be Watching and Nidhogg. Avid Rocket League fans may also have spotted a certain flag in-game. We play a lot of Rocket League is what we’re trying to say. 

Daav Valentaten, NoobFeed (@Daavpuke)