Monster Energy Once Again Threatening Legal Action Over A Game's Title

Monster Energy might be popular among video game players, but the people who make games might have a different opinion, especially if they want to include the word "monster" in their game title. According to developer Vincent Livings, Monster Energy's lawyers are coming after his studio Glowstick Entertainment because of the title of its game, Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals.

Livings has apparently decided to fight Monster Energy's claims, saying that he disagrees with the company's stance that the word "Monster" will confuse players into thinking that the energy drink is related to the game. He also shared legal communications from Monster Energy, including what appears to be an agreement that would prevent Glowstick from ever making a game with Monster in the title, or selling any product that uses the colors green, white, or black.

This isn't the first time that Monster Energy has gone after a game developer for this specific issue. Ubisoft's Immortals: Fenyx Rising was originally marketed under the name Gods & Monsters, and it's been alleged by some that the name change was due in part to legal action from the beverage company. For its part, however, Ubisoft claimed in an interview with GameSpot that the name change came because the team behind the game wanted to put more emphasis on the main character.

Additionally, this sort of aggressive copyright action is not unheard of within the games industry itself. Years ago, Bethesda pursued legal action against Minecraft developer Mojang because its card game, Scrolls, was too similar to its Elder Scrolls name.