We’ve been enjoying Double Fine’s loveable, downloadable mech game Trenched for more than a week now, but our European Xbox 360-owning compatriots have been denied its delicious blend of tower defence and shoot ’em up fun. What gives?
Well, according to a report from Eurogamer, Double Fine and Microsoft have hit a legal snag in deploying Trenched across the Atlantic, which Microsoft has officially referred to as “unexpected challenges with distribution in some European regions”.
Seems the Xbox 360 game’s name veers too closely to a Portuguese trademark for a board game named Trench. The board game, from game designer Rui Alípio Monteiro, also draws its influence from World War I, but takes an abstract visual approach to battle.
That’s a huge drag for gamers denied the pleasure of Trenched and for Double Fine, no doubt. No official word yet from either Microsoft or Double Fine on the untangling of this trademark dispute, but a possible renaming of the title could mean a longer delay, requiring changes to in-game graphics and code.
Board game blocks Trenched EU release [Eurogamer]
Leave a Reply