King says Saga dispute is about protecting future properties

Candy Crush Saga maker King has tried to calm the furore surrounding its Saga trademarks dispute.

The dust on its ‘Candy’ trademark tussle had not even settled this morning when it emerged that the company was opposing a trademark request from developer Stoic over its indie game The Banner Saga.

"We do not have any concerns that Banner Saga is trying build on our brand or our content," a King spokesperson for King told Kotaku. "However, like any prudent company, we need to take all appropriate steps to protect our IP, both now and in the future.

"In this case, that means preserving our ability to enforce our rights in cases where other developers may try to use the Saga mark in a way which infringes our IP rights and causes player confusion. If we had not opposed Banner Saga’s trade mark application, it would be much easier for real copy cats to argue that their use of ‘Saga’ was legitimate.

"This is an important issue for King because we already have a series of games where ‘Saga’ is key to the brand which our players associate with a King game.”

While much of the games press has gone to town on the news other observers, such as former Sony and EA man and current Scattered Entertainment GM Ben Cousins have pointed out that brand trademark protection is a very normal business practise, insinuating that there are other motivations behind the ire King has attracted.