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God of War Creator Thinks War of the Gods is 'A Little Too Close to Comfort'

Posted March 4, 2010 by David Radd

Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery; witness the recent release of THQ's Darksiders which paid homage to the Legend of Zelda, God of War and Portal in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Still, Darksiders isn't so similar to God of War that it would cause any legal friction... but God of War creator David Jaffe thinks another property might be.

“If I owned the rights to Twisted Metal and God of War, I sure as hell would at the least send a sternly worded legal letter. Heck, I'd send two legal letters if it were me,” wrote Jaffe in his blog. “I mean, first Microsoft puts out a car combat game and calls it Scrap Metal? Hey, looks like a great game! Right up my alley! Day one purchase for me. But come on guys, isn't that just a little too close to Sony's own car combat game Twisted Metal?”

“And then Sony has God of War, a game and potential movie about mortals fighting ancient Greek Gods. And then this movie gets announced called War of the Gods about- yep!- mortals fighting ancient Greek Gods,” continued Jaffe. “And look: Sony doesn't- and should not- own the concept of the Greek Myths. Nor should they own the idea of mortal fighting ancient Gods, Greek or any other kind. That's all public domain stuff. But the TITLE? Sony DOES own that. And God of War/War of the Gods seem a little too close to comfort ya'll.”

“Anyway, like I said, not my fight. I don't own s***!” concluded Jaffe.

David Radd has worked as a gaming journalist since 2004 at sites such as GamerFeed, Gigex and GameDaily Biz.

30 Comments

gossip565.com
March 4, 2010

I agree with Jeff there is too many copycats out there and i do think more lawsuits need to be filed. I mean i remember when Ford came out with trucks and Chevrolet came out with the same truck design or vice versa. Just like Sony came out with the first motion controller with the eyetoy yet no one wants to give Sony credit. They want to give it to NIntendo. More lawsuits need to be filed. Everyone has a right to own their own stuff and not be cheated off the money that someone else could make off them by copying their work.

Benjamin Denes Hoyt
March 5, 2010

When did David Jaffe become an IP attorney?

THE 1 2 P
March 5, 2010

I thought you couldn't register titles. There are hundreds of songs, movies and even video games with the same titles.

David Radd
March 5, 2010

I think there might be an issue of brand confusion over the 'Scrap Metal' game. Not only is it a car combat game, but it sounds like another name for 'Twisted Metal' and it could certainly be argued that consumer confusion could occur. A simple name change would probably suffice, to 'Scrap Yard' or 'Scrapping' or even just 'Scrap'

iib241
May 5, 2010

Wow, way to misrepresent what he actually said with a "dramatic" headline. Will Wright totally deserves more respect than that.
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May 14, 2010

He clearly said that it should be in the toy market and explained how that's not necessarily a bad thing but rather a specific decision that was taken. If you read the title with a pessimistic tone then that's your fault.best ecommerce cart

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May 17, 2010

It is the first installment of the God of War series of games and the second chronologically.

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May 23, 2010

Everyone has a right to own their own stuff and not be cheated off the money that someone else could make off them by copying their work. online fax

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May 25, 2010

They want to give it to NIntendo. More lawsuits need to be filed. Everyone has a right to own their own stuff and not be cheated off the money that someone else could make off them by copying their work.online fax

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May 27, 2010

I thought you couldn't register titles. There are hundreds of songs, movies and even video games with the same titles.id protection services

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June 13, 2010

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June 18, 2010

Short it may probably be, but everything is so wonderfully overblown and epic that I'm having to lie down in a dark room after each major fight. The opening 20 minutes or so were utterly, brilliantly absurd. Fighting a giant ocean boss on the arm of an even bigger titan up a ginormous mountain?? I had to put the kettle on sharpish.

Another spoilerific review. Not that the plot in God Of War is particularly challenging or surprising (who'da thought everyone Kratos meets dies?), so in this case I'm not especially bothered. But is there no restraint? Is it that hard to write a review without listing everyone you meet and kill? Mental.

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June 18, 2010

They want to give it to NIntendo. More lawsuits need to be filed.
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June 20, 2010

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June 27, 2010

Title is SO important when it comes to a brand and what people will associate with it--more than anything else about the product. That said--this case is different--one's a movie, and the other's a game. Anything is a POTENTIAL movie, gimme a break. You can't just call movie territory when you make a video game. What if I put out a song or album called "Gods at war"? What if I wrote a book called "Warrior Gods?" Books frequently get made into movies. Where do you draw the line?

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