Kickstarter project Prey for the Gods has undergone a name change. Now titled Praey for the Gods — that “ae” in there is a dipthong — developer No Matter Studios had no problem naming names in a newsletter about the reason for the game’s new title.

“So we didn’t want to do this but we had to change our game name from Prey for the Gods to Praey for the Gods,” the No Matter Studios team wrote. “Thankfully we get to keep the logo but we will spell it ‘Praey for the Gods.’”

ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda Softworks and owner of the Prey trademark, opposed No Matter Studios’ copyright application after it was submitted last May. In January, the developer abandoned its trademark filing for Prey for the Gods, unwilling to fight ZeniMax Media over the title.

With a reboot of the cult classic Prey launching later this week, it makes sense that ZeniMax Media is especially protective of its copyright. For a much smaller, crowdfunded project that has yet to enter the closed alpha stage, fighting back to keep the original name “wasn’t worth it.”

“While we disagree with their opposition we were able to come to an agreement,” No Matter’s post continued. “It was something that kept [us] up many nights, and no doubt shifted our focus from our game frequently. Worrying about the outcome if we went to trial, if we’d lose our fans or walk away from the mark and still potentially get sued for millions on trademark infringement. This is really something no starting company should have to deal with let alone a tiny team of 3. So the fact that we came out the other end intact still developing the game was a win.”

Prey — sorry, Praey — for the Gods will enter a closed alpha state for Kickstarter backers sometime later this year, with a release on PCs, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One due by December 2017. Watch some pre-alpha gameplay below, from back when the game was still known by its initial, properly spelled title.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk7uzZG8HHU

Source: Polygon

I'll admit when I first read the title and saw their logo I assumed it was connected to the Prey franchise. It probably wasn't necessary, but I can kind of see why ZeniMax was a little concerned.

Hopefully the name change doesn't hurt the game upon release, what with the name sound weird and all.

Zen can be tightwads when it comes to naming, so this doesn't surprise me at all.

I really dislike Zenimax. In fact, I've disliked Zenimax for a good while now, and this just reinforces my feelings. I understand why Zenimax does this, but come on, not many others in the game industry seem to do it, and I bet it's not really a problem.

Didn't they sue some studio years ago simply because the studio used the word Scroll in the title?

After having Quake fill me in on what went down with Prey and Zen in general, I've gotta say that Zen/Bethesda are at the top of my shitlist. 

Oh right, the game's development was pretty bad too, wasn't it?

Yeah, the latest PR spin on the PC version has me starting at a load of red flags.

Also this nice little nibblet of info:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/480490/discussions/0/135507548127874521/

Wow, I didn't even remember it was that bad. That's... Well, that's not acceptable. Perfectly legal but you have to be a true asshole to do that kind of stuff.

Yeah. It honestly becoems a situation where Bethesda/Zen acts like the baby throwing the toys out of the pram and making a bigger deal out of it, just to show up the devs.

Sad reality is, if the game sells really well, it'll be like a middle finger to those devs who just wanted to remain as theyw ere and make the games they wanted to.