[UPDATE 02/11/23] The game was delisted from Steam earlier today, February 11th. I didn’t realize until today that it was also on Oculus. As of this update it is still available there. Our original post from February 10th continues below.
Developer Starcade Arcade announced on Thursday that their 2020 VR title, Starblazer, will soon be delisted from Steam and its servers shut down around April thanks to a petition for cancellation filed by Voyager Entertainment. That’s the company who has maintained the rights to the Star Blazers brand since the 90’s for the North American release of the anime series Space Battleship Yamato. It’s unfortunate to see a game being delisted due to only a similarity in title and logo treatment but apparently Starcade Arcade is unable to simply change things up at this point.
Unfortunately, the trademark for the title and logo of this game is going to be canceled, so we need to drop support. We will no longer be selling this game and will likely need to change the branding and logo of the store page. We will continue to leave the multiplayer servers up until at least April 2023.
Trademark Cancellation
Here is a link to the trademark cancelation filed against us: Cancellation PetitionThe original creation of this game’s name and logo were designed by Alexander Clark himself, the creator of the game. I still remember the day that I drew the design while on a flight to Korea.
However, as much as we were attached to the original name and logo of this game, we honestly do not have the funds to support the legal process of defending the trademark. The only way for our studio to continue making games and doing what we love is to abandon the project and remove any existing references to the old logo and title.
Thank You
Steam Announcement – February 09, 2023
Indie life is difficult. We knew that when starting this venture, but it has been 100% worth it. The journey would not be the same without the likes of this community supporting and cheering us on. While this game may be dead, the characters and legacy of the Starcade Arcade universe lives on. We will continue building content in the spirit of this game and hope that you continue to follow us on the adventure! Thank you for all of the support through the years!
The team also created a video to commemorate and memorialize the game which you can still pick up for $9.99 as of this writing. Unfortunately, there’s no telling how much longer it will be available. Thanks again to Serrated-banner9 for submitting the news, we’ll have a page up on the site later.