Popular furniture store, IKEA, has threatened legal action against indie developer, Ziggy, if it doesn't make changes to its forthcoming horror survival game set in a furniture store.
IKEA, which operates out of the Netherlands, directed the New York law firm Fross Zelnick to serve the game developer a cease and desist demand. IKEA has taken this step because it believes the store the game is set in bears similarities to its stores and the developer has thus committed trademark infringement. This belief is fueled by the fact that some press outlets as well as fans have compared IKEA to the game's store.
In the notice, IKEA's lawyers stated that the game's developer uses indicia associated with the IKEA brand without the store's authorization. The lawyers then proceed to list examples, which includes "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 personnel, a gray path on the floor, furniture that looks like IKEA furniture, and product signage that looks like IKEA signage."
Finally, the lawyers directed Ziggy to change the elements they highlighted ten working days after their letter's receipt or they will instigate a lawsuit against the studio. However, if you ask the game's developers, they did nothing wrong. According to an early alpha build of the game released to Kotaku, the blue box-like building and blue and yellow sign only appear on the menu screen and the Scandinavian name that IKEA objected to is only a coincidence. On the letter's claim that the game uses IKEA-like furniture, the developer says they bought generic furniture asset packs for the game.
