IKEA Urges Horror Game Creator To Redesign ‘Lookalike’ Furniture Store
Image via Ziggy
Oh, nej. IKEA, whose home items have overshadowed their namesake Swedish origins, has now told an indie game developer it may take action if he doesn’t redesign his upcoming project to erase all resemblances to its furniture stores.
According to a cease-and-desist letter seen by Kotaku and PC Gamer, IKEA’s New York lawyers are giving developer Jacob Shaw just 10 days to reassemble his game, The Store Is Closed, and “remove all indicia associated with the famous IKEA stores.”
The co-op survival game is described to be set in a fictional “infinite furniture store” named ‘STYR’—that’s “store” in Swedish. The protagonist is locked inside, and there’s no turning to the staff for help because they’re acting weird. The goal is to craft weapons and build fortresses to stay alive, while constructing an escape tower to reach the sky and get out of the building.
The Store Is Closed isn’t even ready yet, and probably won’t be until 2024—which, in IKEA’s defense, means the creator can make key adjustments “easily” within the short window of a little over a week. Shaw, who single-handedly runs game studio Ziggy, had other plans before this hitch came along. With the game now exceeding its Kickstarter goal, he was just about to roll out an update for new alpha testers.
IKEA’s attorneys claimed that the game’s blue box-like building, blue and yellow sign “with a Scandinavian name,” gray paths, yellow vertical striped uniforms, furniture, and product signage infringe on the brand’s trademarks and “immediately suggest that the game takes place in an IKEA store.”
There’s no denying the aesthetic inspiration behind the video game. Early visuals showcase familiar objects like instruction manuals, wooden mannequins (depicted as life-sized attackers in this version), and an advertising poster for “Swedish Meat” with “79% flesh.” While the Swedish giant’s name isn’t cited in the game’s promotional materials, Shaw has likened the The Store Is Closed to “an infinite IKEA game” in a Reddit post.
IKEA says it was motivated to make a move on Shaw’s game after press outlets drew direct comparisons between its retail locations and the video game. One headline, for instance, reads, “Co-Op Horror Game The Store is Closed is About Being Trapped in an IKEA,” while another says, “Survival comes to IKEA in indie horror game The Store is Closed.”
The creator, however, argues that the game’s furniture isn’t modeled after IKEA’s products. In fact, he had downloaded the objects from “generic furniture asset packs” that could be applicable for any game.
Now he’s concerned that replacing the store’s color scheme could implicate him further. “What if Target sues me for using red?” Shaw tells PC Gamer.
