The developer behind indie title Fortress Fallout says that Bethesda Softworks parent company Zenimax Media has forced him to abandon the trademark for his game after allegations of infringement with the popular Fallout series. As Jordan Maron (aka YouTuber Captain Sparklez) discusses in a recent video, Zenimax asked in a letter that Maron "immediately expressly abandon the application for Fortress Fallout and cease any and all current or proposed use of any mark incorporating the term Fallout."

Maron says his company, Xreal, has been forced to comply with the request due to a lack of resources. "Our lawyers said that Bethesda is a notoriously litigious company," Maron says in the video. "Obviously they have lots of money and resources at their disposal which me and my partner don't really have at the moment. So essentially we are being strong-armed into having to change our name, which is unfortunate because I personally don't feel there is any confusion between Fortress Fallout and the Fallout video game franchise." Bethesda and Zenimax did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

We'd wager the average consumer would have little to no chance of confusing Fortress Fallout with Bethesda's popular post-apocalyptic RPG series, as Xreal's game is a free-to-play mobile title with 2D, tile-based graphics and multiplayer-focused strategy gameplay. Still, Xreal is now looking to rename the game, preferably to something that includes the word "Dungeon," according to Maron.

As Maron points out in his video, this isn't the first time that Bethesda has defended its exclusive right to use a common word in gaming titles. Back in 2011, the company suedmaker Mojang over the latter company's trademark for, a free-to-play card game that Zenimax said infringed onseries. The case was eventually settled in 2012 , allowing Mojang to keep using thename as long as it didn't use it in a title that directly competed with. "I'm very happy we've resolved the matter, but it does seem silly for me that we have a system where two companies have to waste piles of money and time and end up in a situation where nothing has changed," Mojang founder Markus "Notch" Persson told Ars at the time.

Last year, Candy Crush Saga maker King drew controversy for using its trademark on the word "candy" to remove other candy-themed games from mobile app stores (King later filed to abandon that trademark). King also went after Stoic Studios' The Banner Saga for potential trademark infringement before settling amicably out of court.