Monster Energy is synonymous with many things – though I can’t say “being a refreshing beverage” is top of that list – however you absolutely can link the name to silly law demands.
The latest property to cross the “Unleashed Beast” is a game that came out in 2020 – Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals. The crime? Having a name that is “confusingly similar to their energy drink.”
1. It's well known that @MonsterEnergy is a notorious trademark troll. Unfortunately, they're at it again. For a company that likes to target their drinks at gamers, they also like to try to bully & bankrupt game studios with lengthy high dollar litigation. #indiegamedev #gamedev pic.twitter.com/8xvg7iWqQe
— Vincent Livings (@VincentLivings) March 29, 2023
Glowstick Entertainment is the company behind Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals, with the CEO taking to Twitter to air out the absurd dirty laundry.
Monster does itself no favours however, with a long line of weird and frivolous claims to it’s identity being threatened. Generally any notable entity that used the word has received threats of litigation – in fact, back in 2020 Ubisoft were forced to bend the knee when their game Gods & Monsters got abruptly changed to the far more catchy Immortals: Fenyx Rising (sarcasm abounds).
The entertaining part of this little legal tiff is how openly Vincent Livings (the aforementioned CEO) is sharing the absurd level of detail the documents go in to regarding what they can and can’t do with the name of their own game:
Here are the overreaching settlement terms that #MonsterEnergy sent me. Basically, it demands that in exchange for allowing us to use the name "Monsters & Mortals", we agree to never name any other game any variation of the word "Monster". #indiegamedev #gamedev #ign #kotaku pic.twitter.com/YyXntK7PLn
— Vincent Livings (@VincentLivings) March 29, 2023
Applicant shall not use claw or claw-like markings. Applicant shall not seek to register any trademark that includes the words “BEAST” or “UNLEASH”. Applicant shall not display their logo in any manner whereby “MONSTER” is emphasized more, or displayed more prominently than the terms “DARK DECEPTION” and “& MORTALS”.
To one as ignorant as I, it seems humorously pedantic. I personally feel that the resolution for this entire thing is simple – given that the game is a multiplayer horror game where players take on the role of… err, monsters… why not approach the magnates of the energy drink empire for a DLC collaboration?
I mean, who doesn’t want to be wantonly slaughtered by a giant can of Monster Energy? Unleash the beast, indeed.
Are you a Monster Energy enthusiast? Do you feel this whole thing is a tad silly? Let us know in the comments or on social media.
Known throughout the interwebs simply as M0D3Rn, Ash is bad at video games. An old guard gamer who suffers from being generally opinionated, it comes as no surprise that he is both brutally loyal and yet, fiercely whimsical about all things electronic. On occasion will make a youtube video that actually gets views. Follow him on YouTube @Bad at Video Games
