IKEA has sent a cease and desist letter to the developer of a horror game “set in an infinite furniture store” after the Swedish company noted similar aspects to the fictional store and its own.
Lawyers representing Ikea have given Jacob Shaw, developer of The Store Is Closed, ten days to “change the game and remove all indicia associated with the famous Ikea stores.”
Ikea’s New York lawyers, Fross Zelnick write: “Our client has learned that you are developing a video game, ‘The Store is Closed’, which uses, without our client’s authorisation, 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 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.”
Gizmodo saw an early alpha build of the game, scheduled to be released in 2024, and claimed that “there’s currently no branding at all in-game” that could be mistaken for IKEA.
It also needs to be noted that ‘IKEA’ isn’t a Swedish name, as the letter legal suggests.
“You can of course easily make a video game set in a furniture store that does not look like, or suggest, an IKEA store.” the lawyer’s letter suggests.
“You can easily make changes to your game to avoid these problems, especially since you do not plan to release the game until 2024.”
