Activision is about to go on a Killing Spree because of an indie issue. Activision filed a formal complaint against as spotted by Polygon. the indie developer that stands behind the browser-based strategy game named Warzone. The complaint is for using Activision’s trademark rights for the “Warzone” title. The indie developer is Randy Ficker and first published his browser-based strategy game in 2017.
Now, Ficker has to deal with the pursuit against name change simply because he didn’t file a trademark during the game’s release. Unlike that, Activision filed a trademark for their Warzone game in June 2020, for later the game to release in October 2020.
Activision has also sent a cease and desist letter “demanding that Activision ‘change the name of its games, stop using Warzone’s WARZONE mark, and abandon the trademark applications”. Activision also states the complaint
“Activision’s Call of Duty: Warzone could not be more different from Defendant’s game, a low-budget, niche virtual board game-like Hasbro’s Risk where players take turns moving numbers (representing “armies”) across a map of the world. Indeed, it is inconceivable that any member of the public could confuse the two products or believe that they are affiliated with or related to each other”.
On the opposite side, Ficker has also come out with a statement claiming:
People tell me all about how their [Xbox] can’t connect, or how their PS4 got hacked, how they wish they could carry teammates, etc. My game isn’t even on [Xbox] or [PS4]. I send the same reply to each of them: ‘Warzone and Call of Duty: Warzone is different games. You should contact Activision.
Randy Ficker also created a GoFundMe page asking for help and explaining the situation.
Apparently, people are getting confused big time thinking that Warzone the browser strategy game is developed by Activision, which understandingly has brought Activision to this decision. It is believed that Activision will outcome as the winner of this conflict.
