Already this year we’ve seen Starblazer taken offline over a copyrighted name dispute from the owners of the 80s anime localization of Star Blazers. Now INTI CREATES has confirmed that the original English releases of Grim Guardians: Demon Purge will temporarily be removed from sale pending a name change to Gal Guardians: Demon Purge.
INTO CREATES has announced that the title of their recently released 2D action platformer, “Grim Guardians: Demon Purge,” will change its English title to “Gal Guardians: Demon Purge.” The change will be rolling out across all platforms in the coming weeks, including the Nintendo eShop, Microsoft Store on Xbox Series S|X, PlayStation Store on PlayStation 4 and 5, and Steam.
This change comes after INTI CREATES received a complaint regarding the title of “Grim Guardians: Demon Purge” from the owners of the trademark “GRIMGUARD” registered in the countries listed below.
Affected countries: United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand
In response to this complaint, the title of the game will be changed to “Gal Guardians: Demon Purge” in the listed countries, as well as other English-speaking regions.
INTO CREATES is currently taking steps to change the title on all storefronts. Due to this, “Gal Guardians: Demon Purge” may be temporarily unavailable for purchase in some regions while undergoing this change. INTI CREATES offers sincere apologies to any customers who are affected as they strive to complete the name change as soon as possible and restore the game to sale across all platforms and regions.
INTI CREATES Tweet – March 08, 2023
The game, which launched just a few weeks ago in late February, has already been updated on Steam but is currently unavailable on Xbox platforms across North America, Australia, and Europe. On Nintendo Switch the original Grim Guardians version is currently hanging on in Europe while on the PlayStation Store it is still up worldwide as of this writing. The Japanese and Asian releases of the game will likely remain available as Grim Guardians.
For those curious, the Grimguard trademark comes from Grimguard Tactics, a fantasy themed, turn-based RPG on Android and iOS from Outerdawn that’s been in the works since 2020. At least this time it’s another game property and not some completely unrelated deodorant brand, or something, getting in the way. Hopefully Grim Guardians returns everywhere as Gal Guardians in short order. Thanks to Skyevlyn for pointing out the news original reported by Nintendo Life.