Gods & Monsters
Image: Ubisoft / Monster Energy

Update: Ubisoft has denied suggestions that Immortals Fenyx Rising's name change came about after legal pressure from Monster Energy. In a statement provided to Eurogamer, the company has said that the change "reflects a creative decision".

"The name change for Immortals Fenyx Rising reflects a creative decision and is not a result of legal matters. As stated in the past, the extra development time allowed us to push our initial vision even further and explore new avenues for the game. As this vision was coming to life and developing a more mature tone, we felt the game needed a new name to better reflect those changes."


Original Article (Tue 15th Sep, 2020 14:30 BST): Ubisoft's Immortals Fenyx Rising has been a particularly interesting game to follow over the past few months, not least because of the suspicious name-change which was officially unveiled earlier this month.

As you may remember, the game was originally called Gods & Monsters. Eventually, Ubisoft started referring to it as 'the game formerly known as Gods and Monsters', before settling on its now-confirmed title, Immortals Fenyx Rising.

In an interview with VGC earlier this month, associate game director Julien Galloudec said that "the change of name was entirely because of the vision of the game". It seems like this might not be the case, however, as a newly-discovered filing shows that Monster Energy – yes, the energy drink company – took legal action against the name.

Opposition documents reveal that Monster Energy believed the Gods & Monsters game title would damage its business – the company highlighted its gaming industry sponsorships and gaming website to back up its point (thanks, TechRaptor / VGC). The opposition was filed in April of this year, just a couple of months before Ubisoft revealed it would be changing the game's title.

The game's set to launch on Nintendo Switch on 3rd December, with its new Immortals Fenyx Rising name very much intact. Here's hoping Monster Energy has never heard of Monster Hunter...

[source tsdr.uspto.gov, via techraptor.net, videogameschronicle.com]