Bethesda Slaps 'Fortress Fallout' Developer With Legal Notice

Real life and its realities are much harsher than what the fable of David and Goliath would lead us to believe. The truth is that being the underdog definitely doesn't help your prospects and sometimes truth and fairness fall by the wayside in the face of absolute power. This was pretty much the case when Bethesda owner Zenimax sent a cease and desist letter to a small independent developer for using the word Fallout in its game.

"Fortress Fallout" developer Xreal was slapped by Zenimax lawyers with the notice for ostensibly infringing on its copyrighted intellectual property according to VG247. The infringed property in question being the "Fallout" series of games developed by its subsidiary Bethesda Softworks. The legal notice orders the two-man development team to abandon the title and redact its trademark application for the name. Ostensibly, Zenimax's concern is that gamers would confuse Xreal's game with the next instalment in the "Fallout" franchise.

To understand the incredulity of the claim, it must be noted that "Fortress Fallout" is a tower defence game for the iOS platform. The game features 2D graphics that are restricted to a single screen that never scrolls or shifts perspective. Bethesda's "Fallout 3," on the other hand, is a modern third person shooter set in a massive open environment. It's unclear how Zenimax believes that a modern post-apocalyptic RPG game could be confused with a tower defence game for mobile phones.

Xreal founder Howard Marks, who goes by the handle CaptainSparklez on YouTube, describes Bethesda as a "litigious" corporation and believes that it is challenging the indie developer not because it has a legitimate case, but because it simply can. Although there is no justifiable link or similarity between the two disparate games, Marks admits that he still can't pursue the matter in courts as Xreal lacks the requisite money, time and resources to challenge the ludicrous claim.

According to Gamespot, Bethesda had resorted to similar instance of trademark trolling by issuing a cease and desist letter to Minecraft Developer Mojang. The company's bone of contention at that time was that Mojang's project named "Scrolls" infringed upon its "The Elder Scrolls" RPG franchise. As Mojang was already an established entity back then, the matter was pursued in the court and later settled outside it. Mojang was allowed to keep the name, but not the trademark rights.

Although Xreal will retain the Fortress bit in "Fortress Fallout," it has decided to drop the latter disputed half. Marks has described the whole situation in detail through a lengthy YouTube video, where he has asked viewers to suggest a suitable name in the comments section. Watch the video below for more details.

The suggestions varied from the jocular "Fallout of Scrolls" and "Clash of Duty: Fortress of Dying Light," to some commenters rooting for "Fallout: Cease and Desist" as a nod to Bethesda's litigious ways. At the moment, "Fortress Outfall" seems to be the leading choice with more than 6000 thumbs up recorded for the suggestion.

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RIP Fortress Fallout :( (credit: CaptainSparklez YouTube channel)