The Store Is Closed Developer Claims IKEA Has Issued A Cease And Desist Order

The indie developer behind The Store Is Closed recently advisedKotakuthat its studio has received a cease and desist from the lawyers of IKEA regarding the game’s setting and its intentional similarities to the Swedish furniture giant’s branches across the world.IKEA is a well-known name when it comes to furniture stores. Originating from Sweden, the company now has multiple branches worldwide, making it familiar to anyone living in Europe and the United States. Recently, the company’s lawyers from the US have contacted an indie game developer regarding his unreleased title that they assume to feature assets that could make people think of IKEA.RELATED:Overwatch 2 Developer Announces Changes For Five Heroes Coming In NovemberThe Store Is Closed is a work-in-progress project that is supposed to be released on an unannounced date onSteam. It is developed by a single indie developer under the name of Ziggy. The game is a survival experience set in an “infinite furniture store” where you need to use the furniture to craft new materials and explore the store to eventually find a way out. It can be played both in single-player mode and co-op mode.While the game’s furniture store doesn’t have any direct indication of IKEA, there are some assets — like the logo of the store, the shirts that the store staff wear, and the gray path on the floor — that could remind players of an IKEA furniture store branch if they have ever walked into any of them, according to Kotaku. The letter to the developer does highlight the aforementioned examples, leaving a 10-day period to remove all the assets that remind the game’s audience of IKEA, before any legal actions proceeds.

While the game’s descriptions and promotions on Steam and Kickstarter never mention IKEA, the company’s lawyers indicate that some comments in the Kickstarter campaign compare the game’s setting to an IKEA furniture store.

According to Kotaku, the developer has indicated that he will need to change the entire look of the game to avoid any legal action from IKEA, which could cost him a lot of time and of course a significant amount of money, as the developer has bought the assets from somewhere else to use them in his upcoming game.

Thus far, The Store Is Closed has earned $49,000 through its Kickstarter campaign, but it remains unknown how this could change after revamping the game’s setting.

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