Mojang founder and Minecraft creator Markus Persson (AKA Notch) has announced via Twitter that the company has settled their ongoing battle with ZeniMax Media — which owns game studio Bethesda — over the “scrolls” name. With the legal issues out of the way, this will hopefully clear the path for Mojang’s forthcoming Scrolls game to become a reality. Sadly, it probably means that Notch’s proposed Mojang/Bethesda Quake 3 duel is off the table.
Careful readers will recall that Bethesda moved to block Mojang’s use of the “scrolls” name as they felt it would confuse consumers. Bethesda, of course, makes The Elder Scrolls series of games, which also have a fantasy setting. Aside from the name and genre, the two games have little in common — Scrolls is meant to be a card game after all.
Though there has yet to be an official word on the settlement, Notch sent out the key details over Twitter.
AND!! We’ve settled with Bethesda! Yaaaay! <3
The settlement is that we give them the trademark, get to keep the name, and won’t make an elder scrolls competitor using the name.
Notch then followed up the news with a dig on one of his favorite targets.
The actual document I signed was like a billion pages, so at least we know a bunch of lawyers got rich. Good, wouldn’t want them to starve.
Though the settlement appears far more anticlimactic than an all-out fight to the death in Quake 3, it’s good to close this particular chapter in gaming in-fighting.
- The troubles between Bethesda and Mojang begin
- Mojang wins interim injunction over Bethesda
- Scrolls announced
Published: Mar 10, 2012 01:00 pm