Game On: Monster Energy threatens indie game developer with legal action

Monster Energy began making headlines for all the wrong reasons late last month when they sent out a legal demand letter to indie video game studio Glowstick Entertainment concerning their game Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals after they filed for the trademark “Monsters & Mortals.”

The demand letter is extensive, permitting the developer to maintain the game’s title but insisting that the “applicant shall not use or seek to register any trademark that includes the word MONSTER, or any variants thereof in connection with any goods or services.” The letter goes on to restrict similar words like “BEAST or UNLEASH” and forces Glowstick Entertainment to never use a green and white logo on a black background for any game they ever create.

This isn’t Monster Energy’s first rodeo – the company, partially owned by CocaCola Corporation, is a notorious trademark bully. They’ve sued a small Ohio restaurant for using “monster” on its sign, a welding company in Georgia for using an “M” similar to their logo and once went after aquarium hobby forum MonsterFishKeepers. Monster Energy even successfully bullied the likes of Ubisoft into changing the name of its game Gods & Monsters to Immortals: Fenyx Rising.

If you haven’t heard of Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals before, you’re not alone. It’s exclusive to PC and currently caps out around 24 concurrent online players on any given day. Suffice to say, Monster Energy’s legal team has no qualms with punching down.

Glowstick Entertainment CEO Vincent Livings stated on Twitter, “Monster Energy’s lawyers are coming after us right now, because Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals has the word ‘monsters’ in it. Yep, that’s really their claim. Rather than roll over, I’m going to fight them in court.”

Livings has stated that Glowstick Entertainment is “currently in the process of filing a Motion for Summary Judgment to stop Monster Energy’s legal team from dragging the process out longer and draining our financial resources. The motion only has a 50-50 chance of success and can still be appealed, but it saves us a lot of time if it succeeds.”

Indeed, part of the reason companies like Monster Energy can get away with trademark bullying is because the resulting legal battles are so costly and lengthy that they can easily drain the financial resources of their opponents, crippling the small companies and essentially forcing them to agree to their terms.

Accordingly, Livings has created a GoFundMe page entitled “Keep Monster Energy from owning ‘Monster’” – as of writing, just $1,400 has been raised out of his $30,000 goal. Although this is sure to help, Monster Energy’s pockets are deep – the only way they can truly feel the sting of defeat is if the legal proceedings damage their public image.

There is significant risk of Monster Energy doing just that. Mainstream news outlets and video game influencers have hopped on the story – most notably, YouTuber Charles “MoistCr1TiKaL” White posted the video “This Monster Energy Lawsuit Is Nuts,” already amassing 1.4 million views as of this writing.

Monster Energy’s tactics are all the more puzzling when one considers the efforts the company goes to in marketing itself to gamers. They regularly sell cans with codes for acquiring extra goodies in video games like Apex Legends and Call of Duty and frequently sponsor competitive esports players and streamers.

Sending a small indie developer a legal demand letter that almost everyone agrees is overreaching is not an effective way to get in gamers’ good graces. Currently, one of the top reviews for Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals on Steam reads, “Stopped drinking Monster Energy Drinks and bought this game instead. My kidneys thanked me.”

The game’s store page is currently flooded with gamers offering up their support for the title and dissing Monster Energy. While the game is hardly exploding with popularity, it’s gaining much more attention than before. It’s unclear what Monster Energy hopes to gain by tarnishing their good will with gamers, one of the brand’s primary demographics.

Riordan Zentler can be reached at riordanzentler@gmail.com.