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After Being Sued By ‘Iron Maiden’, 3D Realms Changes the Name of its Shooter ‘Ion Maiden’
Nothing rock ‘n’ roll about forcing a sick-ass throwback shooter to change its name.
Iron Maiden did it anyway. In May of this year, the British heavy metal band sued 3D Realms, developers of the similarly named Ion Maiden, for $2 million for trademark infringement, despite the fact that no human person could ever confuse a very cool-looking Duke Nukem successor and a bunch of old white dudes.
“Defendant’s misappropriation and use of a virtually identical imitation of the Iron Maiden trademark creates a likelihood of confusion among consumers,” the lawsuit claimed, anyway. “Customers who view Defendant’s video game and merchandise are likely to believe that Iron Maiden is somehow affiliated with Defendant.”
The game has been renamed Ion Fury, and will release on PC on August 15, digitally and with a “Big Box” physical edition.
3D Realms released a new trailer today showing off the game’s 90s-inspired first-person shooting and announcing the name change. While a spiritual successor to the studio’s own Duke Nukem franchise, Ion Fury appears to be splitting the difference between Doom-style frantic shooting and Deus Ex-esque physics. The trailer’s even got a fully playable piano.
My suggestion, given my extensive knowledge of copyright law, is that 3D Realms could have avoided litigation by simply calling the game “Dumb Iron Maiden.” Though, ask yourself, who is truly the dumb Iron Maiden in this situation?
In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war, but it was a cheerful illustrator from England who helped to define the terrifying war-torn imagery that inspired what we now know as Grimdark (a hybrid genre combining horror with sci-fi/fantasy).
Unfortunately for fans of Warhammer 40,000, Trench Crusade and countless other sources of Grimdark thrills, veteran artist John Blanche passed away this week after struggling with health issues for the past few years.
While the artist retired back in 2023, he leaves us with an enormous legacy of iconic artwork that continues to inspire gamers and storytellers around the world to this very day.
The news is especially gloomy as it was only last year that Daniel Lowman and Napoleon Dynamite himself Jon Heder released The Grim & the Dark: The Search for John Blanche, a documentary following Heder’s exploration of the Grimdark genre culminating in a heartwarming encounter with Blanche in his own home.
Below is one of my favorite pieces by Blanche, his highly influential depiction of Warhammer 40k’s God-Emperor of Mankind on his Golden Throne.
We send our deepest condolences to John Blanche’s family, friends, and fans.
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