Ikea’s lawyers demand changes to horror game set in furniture store

Ikea demanded that an independent game developer change a horror-themed game in its furniture shop, claiming it bears too much resemblance with their own.

According to a Kotaku report, Ikea’s New York legal representatives Fross Zelnick have written to a solo UK developer Jacob Shaw, giving him just 10 days to “remove all indicia associated with the famous Ikea stores” from his game The store is closed.

The Store is currently closed The survival game is set in an infinite furniture shop, where staff attacks when the lights are out at night. In order to survive, the players will need to create weapons and construct fortifications. Styr is the name of the store and can be seen from outside as a big blue building with yellow signs. There’s no way to play the game yet, but it can be seen in video above and in images on its Steam and Kickstarter pages.

In the letter seen by Kotaku, Ikea’s lawyers say that the game “uses, without our client’s authorization, indicia associated with the famous IKEA stores.”

It defines these “indicia” as follows: “Your game uses a blue and yellow sign with a Scandinavian name on the store, a blue box-like building, yellow vertical stiped 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.”

Kotaku who has built the game says the shop’s exterior and branding only appear on the menu screen. Shaw told Kotaku that he used generic furniture asset packs to make the game, rather than creating furniture to resemble Ikea’s products. Although Shaw is careful never to mention Ikea, the firm’s lawyers point out that press coverage of the game, and user comments, have been quick to make the connection.

The Store is currently closed appears to be a riff on SCP-3008, a joke entry in a fictional paranormal wiki about “a space resembling the inside of an Ikea furniture store, extending far beyond the limits of what could physically be contained within the dimensions of the retail unit.” Inside SCP-3008, humanoids dressed as Ikea staff attack at night, saying, “The store is now closed, please exit the building.”

There is an undeniable resemblance between the game store’s branding and signage and Ikea’s. Whether this constitutes fair use or “unfair competition and false advertising,” as Ikea claims, is certainly debatable. Shaw however, who uses the name Ziggy as his studio, doesn’t feel that he is equipped to combat it. “I was going to spend the last week of my Kickstarter preparing an update for all the new alpha testers,” he told Kotaku. “But now I’ve got to desperately revamp the entire look of the game so I don’t get sued.”

Contacted by Polygon for comment, Ikea said: “While we think it’s flattering that others are inspired by the Ikea brand, we must be diligent to ensure that the Ikea trademarks and trade dress are not misapplied. The appearance of various elements in the game is identical to the Ikea brand features. We’ve reached out to the creator of the video and asked them to make changes to those elements to ensure that this is no longer the case. The creator of the video agreed to our request. All should be fine in time to allow for the 2024 launch.

“We wish the creator of the game the best of luck!”

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