Monster Energy Is Suing An Indie Game Studio Over The Word "Monster" In Their 2020 Title

When you hear or see the word “monster,” in any form, you think of Monster Energy... said no one ever.

By definition, a monster is defined as a cruel or wicked person, so Monster Energy decided to take the name of its company seriously and file a lawsuit against indie developer Glowstick Entertainment for the title of the studio’s game "Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals". Why? Because the 2020 horror indie game has the word “monster” in it and you certainly would confuse it for the energy drink, right?

Monster Energy has actually tried getting a game’s name changed in the past too, and succeeded. Remember Ubisoft’s Immortals Fenyx Rising? It was supposed to be Gods and Monsters before the company got involved.

Monster Energy has even expanded the case to prevent Glowstick Entertainment from using a green and white logo against a black background in the game in question and any others the developers create.

However, the indie team’s founder Vincent Livings said he plans to fight the company in court. “Dishonest companies like Monster Energy depend on doing their bullying in secret, while presenting a clean image to their base (athletes & gamers),” Livings said on Twitter. “Showing their true face publicly is the only real way to stop them.”

Here’s the full response:

1. It's well known that @MonsterEnergy is a notorious trademark troll. Unfortunately, they're at it again. For a company that likes to target their drinks at gamers, they also like to try to bully & bankrupt game studios with lengthy high dollar litigation. #indiegamedev #gamedev pic.twitter.com/8xvg7iWqQe

— Vincent Livings (@VincentLivings) March 29, 2023

If you want to understand the extent of how insane this situation gets, Monster Energy even sued Monster Hunter and Pokemon (Pocket Monsters in Japan) in the past for using “monster,” according to Automaton Media.