Horror Game Inspired By Ikea Was Threatened With A Lawsuit By Ikea

The Store Is Closed, an in-development horror game about being trapped in a closed-down “infinite furniture store” made in the likeness of Ikea has now been threatened with a lawsuit by Ikea.

Ikea has contacted the game’s developer Ziggy or Jacob Shaw and asked him to either change the horror game to look less like their branding or they will be sending a lawsuit.

According to Shaw via PC Gamer, the message from Ikea’s lawyers says:

“Our client has learned that you are developing a video game, The Store is Closed, which uses, without our client’s authorization, indicia associated with the famous Ikea stores,

Your game uses 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. All the foregoing immediately suggest that the game takes place in an Ikea store.”

Ikea’s lawyers say that Shaw doesn’t have to completely cancel the game however they would like him to make several amendments so that it no longer resembles their branding within ten days of receiving the letter:

“You can of course easily make a video game set in a furniture store that does not look like or suggests, an IKEA store. You can easily make changes to your game to avoid these problems, especially since you do not plan to release the game until 2024.”

Speaking to PC Gamer, Shaw says he is going to comply with the demands so that he doesn’t get sued. His solution to making the game look less like Ikea involves “basically just ripping out anything that is blue or yellow and adding some garish red everywhere,” he said. “removing all the Scandinavian furniture, changing all the posters, probably removing the path [from the floor].”

He has however said that “Their [Ikea’s] requests are a little vague. Like, ‘furniture that looks like Ikea furniture,’ that’s not particularly specific.”

Regardless, he has since uploaded new pictures of the game showing a quick potential look at the new visual style since the message from Ikea.

Despite these setbacks, Shaw is still going ahead with the game although his plans to update his (successful) Kickstarter for the game do have to be changed. He was originally preparing for pre-alpha testing but now he has to quickly overhaul the game’s visual appearance to meet Ikea’s demands. He says that it shouldn’t make “too big of a difference, just more stress.”

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