Nothing rock ‘n’ roll about forcing a sick-ass throwback shooter to change its name.
Iron Maiden did it anyway. In May of this year, the British heavy metal band sued 3D Realms, developers of the similarly named Ion Maiden, for $2 million for trademark infringement, despite the fact that no human person could ever confuse a very cool-looking Duke Nukem successor and a bunch of old white dudes.
“Defendant’s misappropriation and use of a virtually identical imitation of the Iron Maiden trademark creates a likelihood of confusion among consumers,” the lawsuit claimed, anyway. “Customers who view Defendant’s video game and merchandise are likely to believe that Iron Maiden is somehow affiliated with Defendant.”
The game has been renamed Ion Fury, and will release on PC on August 15, digitally and with a “Big Box” physical edition.
3D Realms released a new trailer today showing off the game’s 90s-inspired first-person shooting and announcing the name change. While a spiritual successor to the studio’s own Duke Nukem franchise, Ion Fury appears to be splitting the difference between Doom-style frantic shooting and Deus Ex-esque physics. The trailer’s even got a fully playable piano.
My suggestion, given my extensive knowledge of copyright law, is that 3D Realms could have avoided litigation by simply calling the game “Dumb Iron Maiden.” Though, ask yourself, who is truly the dumb Iron Maiden in this situation?
