Caught wrong Energy drink maker Monster Energy attacked an indie
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Caught wrong: Energy drink maker Monster Energy attacked an indie developer over his game’s name, but received an unexpected rebuff

portal PC gamer noted that energy drink maker Monster Energy targeted Los Angeles-based studio Glowstick Entertainment over a game title containing the word Monster.

    Image Source: Steam (Meteora)

Image Source: Steam (Meteora)

We’re talking about the network horror Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals, released in November 2020. In late March 2023, Monster Energy’s lawyers approached Glowstick, claiming that the name of his game could easily be confused with the popular energy drink .

Vincent Livings, founder and CEO of Glowstick Entertainment, on his microblog told about legal threats and the terms of Monster Energy’s dispute resolution service.

    Image Source: Twitter (Vincent Livings)

Image Source: Twitter (Vincent Livings)

In exchange for permission to use the word Monster Developers should subscribe to quite a few restrictive measures like a commitment never to include the word monster and its derivatives in the names of games ever again.

For example in the title of a possible Dark Deception sequel. monsters too forces the studio to refrain from using the green and white logo on a black background: “It looks like they still have green and white colors”.

    Image Credit: Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals

Image Credit: Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals

According to Livings, Monster Energy loves to intimidate and bankrupt game studios with lengthy legal battles, but this trick doesn’t work with Glowstick: “Instead of holding up my paws, I’ll fight them in court”.

Livings stresses he won’t be changing the game’s title and expects to show the true colors of Monster Energy “do you carry out bullying in secret” – the developer calls it “The Only True Way to Stop Them”.