Have you ever heard of an upcoming horror survival game called This Store is Closed? It’s basically SCP-3008 in video game form, even though the game take great pains to avoid actually referring to the in-game location as IKEA. So why is this still an issue? Well, because IKEA are demanding that the develop make the game less IKEA-like, and in legalese to boot.
SCP-3008: The Video Game in Swedish Peril?
Kotaku recently released a very interesting story about the upcoming horror survival (and SCP Foundation) game This Store is Closed. According to them: IKEA’s lawyers have sent a cease and desist letter to the indie development studio Ziggy. The letter demands that the developer has 10 days to “change the game and remove all indicia associated with the famous Ikea stores”. It seems that developer Jacob Shaw made the in-game store just a bit too much like IKEA, and the Swedish furniture store chain is having none of it. In fact, IKEA’s lawyers goes on to describe exactly what’s wrong:
“Your game uses a blue and yellow sign with a Scandinavian name on the store, a blue box-like building, yellow vertical stiped shirts identical to those worn by IKEA personnel, a gray path on the floor, furniture that looks like IKEA furniture, and product signage that looks like IKEA signage. All the foregoing immediately suggest that the game takes place in an IKEA store.”
To be fair, several news outlet have noted that This Store is Closed does appear to take place in a suspiciously IKEA-like store. It doesn’t help that the game is obviously an adaptation of the aforementioned SCP-3008 of SCP Foundation fame. In fact, as you can see above, the developer is leaning into the SCP fandom hard for this game. However. this particular SCP basically takes place in a haunted IKEA store, so you can understand where IKEA is coming from.
Naturally, Jacob Shaw is scrambling to make those changes. He apparently wanted to spend the last week of the Kickstarter preparing an update for all the alpha testers, but now that’s obviously no longer possible. Let’s hope the game itself still continues development. It’d be a shame for the game to end this way because IKEA’s lawyers didn’t catch this sooner.
This Store is Closed: Details
This Store is Closed is an upcoming horror survival game by Ziggy. In fact, Ziggy is the sole developer and publisher of this game. We don’t have much official information on this game, mostly because it’s not even out. Heck, it doesn’t even have a release date yet. Not officially, at any rate. The closest we have is on the game Kickstarter page, which gives it an estimated release date of June 2024.
As for what this game is about? Well, Ziggy has an official synopsis for us on the game’s Steam page. Check it out below:
The Store is Closed is a coop survival game set in an infinite furniture store. When the lights go out, the staff attack. You’ll need to craft weapons, and build fortifications to survive the night. Explore the underground SCP laboratories and build towers to the sky to find a way out.
You can wishlist the game on Steam. Or if you want to back Ziggy more directly, then you can still donate to this game on its Kickstarter page as of this writing. Who knows? Maybe this cease and desist letter will get the game some publicity and more funding.
Source: Kotaku
