King has been named the villain of the year within the gaming industry for aggressively defending (or abusing) its copyrighted trademarks. A legal battle ensued when King pushed for penalties against Stoic, a developer with modest financial backgrounds that managed to surprise gamers with the highly acclaimed The Banner Saga. The fight for the word “Saga” wasn’t the only one King was involved in however, as the major developer also took legal action against indie developer Albert Ransom, who published his Candy Swipe game. In all fairness, King’s claims against Stoic were outrageous, however, these made more sense when it came to Candy Swipe, a game that clearly drew some measure of inspiration from King’s Candy Crush Saga. The similarities between Candy Crush and Candy Swipe can’t really be ignored.
All things seem to have been settled however, as all parties involved walked away satisfied from the affair. Stoic and King resolved their issues earlier, with Stoic stating that “Stoic is pleased to have come to an agreement with King regarding Stoic’s The Banner Saga trademark, which enables both parties to protect their respective trademarks now and in the future.”. Now, the dispute between the Candy Crush Saga developer and Albert Ransom also seems to be over, although the change of heart in Ransom’s attitude would suggest a financial incentive was involved.
“I am happy to announce that I have amicably resolved my dispute with King over my CandySwipe trademark and that I am withdrawing my opposition to their mark and they are withdrawing their counterclaim against mine. I have learned that they picked the Candy Crush name before I released my game and that they were never trying to take my game away. Both our games can continue to coexist without confusing players.” read a post on Random’s official website.
Of course, this isn’t the end of the battle for King, who is constantly battling other developers based on legal issues. The company is perhaps taking exaggerated measures at times, but there’s no denying that there are many who would like to profit from the popularity of Candy Crush Saga. ZeptoLab and its Cut the Rope game are just among the few to have entered a legal dispute with King lately, and the list of developers involved will most likely continue to expand.
Regardless, we’re happy to see Stoic walk out unscathed from the battle. If anything, King has financial resources to undermine any small development studio, simply because these smaller indie devs can’t afford to have long-lasting lawyer battles, whereas King isn’t facing the same difficulties. Is the Candy Crush Saga developer abusing its mobile gaming market leading position? Possibly, but there’s not much small studios can do about it. In the case of devs such as Albert Ransom, a financial incentive might be the best way out.