UPDATE NOTE
There seems to be some (understandable) confusion in regards to where the lawsuit is coming from. To clarify, "Bethesda Softworks" (publisher and developer of game titles) and "Bethesda Game Studios" (Creators of games like Oblivion, Skyrim etc.) are not the same entity. BGS is an in-house game-making team led by Todd Howard which is one part of Bethesda Softworks, and has no direct connection to the lawsuit in progress by Bethesda Softworks. Unless further specified by the acronym "BGS", any references to Bethesda in the following article assume "Bethesda Softworks". Sorry about the confusion!
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Mojang has been in development of another project (which we went over in our last installment), which bears the working name "Scrolls". Bethesda has expressed concern that players could mix up this new game with their own "Elder Scrolls" series, although the two seem to share no noticeable similarities beyond the word "scrolls".
Notch said that their office received a 15-page cease-and-desist letter, claiming that Mojang would be sued for rights to the word, along with formal requests for legal fees. He went on to say that they are attempting to establish talks with Bethesda regarding the word, to find an amicable solution for both parties. At the time of this writing, there was no available response from Bethesda.
We will continue to update this article as information becomes available.
Notch said that their office received a 15-page cease-and-desist letter, claiming that Mojang would be sued for rights to the word, along with formal requests for legal fees. He went on to say that they are attempting to establish talks with Bethesda regarding the word, to find an amicable solution for both parties. At the time of this writing, there was no available response from Bethesda.
We will continue to update this article as information becomes available.
I get that Bethesda's lawyers are having a field day suing over the word 'scrolls', but do you think any raging on the internets is going to help? I see big business getting over confident, and this usually leads to a loss of fans and drop in sales. Elder Scrolls, Scrolls, so they share the same word. Big whoop, most games have similar titles, there are only so many words in a language. 67 pages of people having a fit on the MINECRAFT forums won't make much of an impact on this case. I say we get behind Notch, and help him out, and no, I do not mean spam his Twitter.
Seriously though, the fact that Bethesda sent a C&D letter shows that they see this little indie game as a threat. So in a way, it is a back-handed compliment.
They are responsible for that pile of **** called "Brink", and Mojang already moved the Minecraft release date from 11-11-11 for Skyrim because it was better for both games to do so.
Mojang is just a popular, rising developing company now and Bethesda is being a whiny little girl about it.
"But...but...we made Morrowind... WHY AREN'T YOU BUYING OUR GAMES ANYMORE!"
like minecraft. There just jealous that minecraft is ruining there sales so bethesda stop being such a little baby and suck it up.
bethesda instead of paying million's of dollars suing mojang why don't you just give him half of what it would take to sue him to change the name.
^ Bethesda.
First off, the people who say "MINECRAFT IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN SKYRIM THEY ARE JEALOUS". Odds are, Skyrim will get over 3 million sales in a few days, if not less. It'll crush minecraft in sales, plus they sell it for 4-5x as much. I doubt Bethesda gives a **** to what Notch is doing.
Next, the people who say "HAH LET'S BOYCOTT THEM THEY GONNA LOSE MONEY". Let's assume everyone in this "thread" did so. Gee, that's around 800 people. And Bethesda still keeps selling millions of copies. Do you think Bethesda would care if 800 people left, and still had 20 million more to replace them?
Also, the people spamming "SCROLLS". They won't sue you, you're just a moron.
Finally, the "defenders of Notch". Minecraft may have sold 3 million copies, but do 3 million people play it all the time? No. Not even close. Furthermore, most of the people complaining in this thread are around 12 years old, and just ranting to defend Notch. A majority of people who play Minecraft aren't going to care about this, and go buy Skyrim.
Notch deserves this. I salute Bethesda for doing so.