Horror is made to create fear of disgust, all for entertainment purposes.
And in games, the horror genre is typically designed to scare players, often by exploring dark subject matter, monsters, apocalyptic events, supranatural, and others. And 'The Store is Closed' is just one of the games that is designed to make players fear of getting lost.
In more than many times, childhood memories may include getting lost inside a massive department store. Sometimes, children can get lost when something caught their attention, and their parents would unknowingly wander off, leaving the young infants to fend for themselves amidst the nightmarish aisles.
And Jacob Shaw, or also known online as Ziggy, is trying to recreate that fear with their indie title, which he said, was inspired by the popular creative writing website SCP Foundation.
Using a first-person perspective, the game is all about when the lights go out, in which twisted staff workers that resemble a Slenderman will walk through the aisles of infinitely expanding furniture store. Players need to craft weapons, and build fortifications to survive the night.
They need to explore the SCP laboratories and build towers to the sky to find a way out.
IKEA is not liking that idea.
IKEA is a Swedish multinational conglomerate based in the Netherlands that designs and sells furniture, kitchen appliances, home accessories, and various other goods and home services.
But what it's also known for, is its stores that are typically blue buildings with yellow accents.
And the game by Shaw, clearly resembles an IKEA store.
The company seems to be displeased with Shaw's use of the chain store's branding designs.
In particular, a number of gamers who tried the game, have been sharing the gameplay of the game, and press releases as well as online observers have “made an explicit connection” between the horrific and unsettling STYR from The Store Is Closed and IKEA.
Because of this, IKEA's legal team has sent a letter to Shaw, telling him that they are aware of the similarities between the store in his game to that of IKEA.
"Our client has learned that you are developing a video game, The Store is Closed, which uses, without our client’s authorization, indicia associated with the famous Ikea stores," said the letter from IKEA which Shaw shared with PC Gamer.
"Your game uses a blue and yellow sign with a Scandinavian name on the store, a blue box-like building, yellow vertical striped shirts identical to those worn by Ikea personnel, a gray path on the floor, furniture that looks like Ikea furniture, and product signage that looks like Ikea signage. All the foregoing immediately suggest that the game takes place in an Ikea store."
IKEA doesn't want Shaw to shut down his project. The company only wants him to remove the similarities.
"You can easily make changes to your game to avoid these problems, especially since you do not plan to release the game until 2024," said the letter.
Shaw told PC Gamer that he "really rather not get sued."
IKEA is a company that has seen revenues reaching $25.4 billion in 2021, whereas Jacob Shaw is only a solo indie developer from the UK who tried to raise £10,000 ($11,575) from Kickstarter.
So obviously, Shaw has no choice but to comply.
He does seek legal advance, which found issues with IKEA's complaints.
"Their requests are a little vague. Like, 'furniture that looks like Ikea furniture,' that's not particularly specific," he said.
But still, going face-to-face against the furniture giant is not an option for Shaw, considering the costs that can be involved when challenging anything.
Shaw is perfectly willing to comply with IKEA’s admittedly vague demands, so he can release The Store Is Closed in 2024 according to plan, without having to risk an expensive lawsuit.
"I was going to spend the last week of Kickstarter preparing an update for all the new alpha testers," Shaw said.
"But now I have to desperately renew the entire look of the game so I don’t get sued."
