Ikea Threatens Legal Action Over Supermarket Survival Game | Media Pyro

An independent indie game developer is facing legal action from Ikea over its unreleased furniture store survival game.

As Kotaku reports(Opens in a new window)the game is called Te Toa mena Katia(Opens in a new window), and is described as a “coop survival game set in an infinite treasure store.” The player is trapped in the store and has to find a way out alone or with the help of friends. Along the way, you can build weapons and forts from materials, all the while surviving attacks from “mutant workers.”

Although there is no direct information about Ikea in the game, the Swedish company has released the developer Jacob Shaw(Opens in a new window) (known as Ziggy) a cease and desist letter. Ikea claims the game infringes on its trademarks because:

“Your game will use a blue and yellow logo with a Scandinavian name on the store, a blue box-like building, and a bright yellow stone seal of the shirts that match those worn by the staff. of IKEA, a gray track on the floor, furniture similar to IKEA furniture, and product symbols similar to the IKEA logo. All of the above still suggest that the game at an IKEA store.”

The letter goes on to say “Furthermore, many readers have commented on this information in connection with IKEA stores.”

Even Kickstarter’s funding game(Opens in a new window) Not yet released, Ikea only gave Shaw ten working days from the date of the letter to remove all the alleged violations, which the letter called “indicia.” Shaw doesn’t see much choice but to follow through and “reshape the whole game so I don’t get sued.”

However, no matter what Shaw does to change the game, everyone will be associated with Ikea because of the legal work the company is doing.

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