The War Z renamed Infestation: Survivor Stories due to 'trademark issues'

We all expect the zombie apocalypse to be difficult, but The War Z has found the real world just as trying. Between being pulled from Steam, responding rudely to players, a forum hack, and, well, being widely slated, it's had a tough old time. Add another problem to the list: following "trademark issues", developer Hammerpoint Interactive has renamed the survive 'em up Infestation: Survivor Stories. I'd expect that's something to do with World War Z.

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We all expect the zombie apocalypse to be difficult, but The War Z has found the real world just as trying. Between being pulled from Steam, responding rudely to players, a forum hack, and, well, being widely slated, it's had a tough old time. Add another problem to the list: following "trademark issues", developer Hammerpoint Interactive has renamed the survive 'em up Infestation: Survivor Stories. I'd expect that's something to do with World War Z.

"This change has come about primarily as a result of some confusion and trademark issues with a similarly titled property," community manager 'Kewk' explained on the game's forums (via IGN).

"While we were reluctant to rename the game so long after launch, especially with nearly 1 million registered players, it was ultimately decided to be in the best interest of our existing community as well as future players in order to eliminate confusion."

And to avoid lawsuits, one imagines. Aside from the name change, all will carry on as before.

If it is World War Z, that'd hardly be surprising. The War Z was always a questionably similar name, dare I say hoping to catch a little extra attention from fans of the zombie novel. With Brad Pitt's movie adaptation launching on Friday, folks probably wanted to shut that down--partly to stop Hammerpoint profiting off the association, and also to stop potential players from thinking author Max Brooks or any of the involved movie companies were in any way responsible for the game.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    June 19, 2013 2:30 PM

    Alice O'Connor posted a new article, The War Z renamed Infestation: Survivor Stories due to 'trademark issues'.

    We all expect the zombie apocalypse to be difficult, but The War Z has found the real world just as trying. Between being pulled from Steam, responding rudely to players, a forum hack, and, well, being widely slated, it's had a tough old time. Add another problem to the list: following "trademark issues", developer Hammerpoint Interactive has renamed the survive 'em up Infestation: Survivor Stories. I'd expect that's something to do with World War Z.

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      June 19, 2013 2:45 PM

      [deleted]

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      June 19, 2013 3:05 PM

      They knew they were playing with fire with that name.

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        June 20, 2013 7:28 AM

        Could have also been a marketing tactic. Get in while you can to grab part of the hype machine, and then wait until the lawyers made you change it. Wouldn't be surprised if they even coded parts of the game with an interchangeable name in mind. HAH!

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      June 19, 2013 3:12 PM

      Cool. Maybe now I won't have to keep looking up which is the good game and which is the bad one when I see an article. I kept forgetting since I never played either.

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      June 19, 2013 4:25 PM

      Or they are hoping people won't realize that this title is the same shitty game?

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      June 20, 2013 8:31 AM

      Any way they name it, these guys can still take a running leap at a flaming DICK for putting out such a shoddy ripoff.

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