Vlambeer's roguelike-like game, Wasteland Kings, has been renamed Nuclear Throne, developer Rami Ismail announced during a Eurogamer Expo session.
"We will be renaming Wasteland Kings for a variety of reasons that will soon be in the press everywhere," Ismail said. "Wasteland Kings, in the future, will be known as Nuclear Throne."
According to a follow up post by Ismail on Vlambeer's official blog, the development team were contacted by InXile Entertainment via a "short, amicable and to-the-point" email that pointed out possible brand confusion between Wasteland Kings and InXile Entertainment's Wasteland 2.
"We've been through a lot of trouble with people riding on things of ours, and we understand that American trademark law is pretty strict in that not defending a trademark weakens it," he wrote. "We realize that both games are set in a similar setting, that the names are similar and that InXile obviously felt the need to reach out. Although we aren't sure Wasteland Kings and Wasteland are confusing enough for this to be an issue, both us and InXile really don't want to spend development time on arguing over trivialities."
The decision to rebrand Wasteland Kings was made during a quick Skype conversation between the two studios.
During PAX Prime 2013, Ismail told Polygon that Nuclear Throne is a "merciless game" with a core system of run, shoot and survive. Gameplay involves a hefty amount of trial and error where players are required to clear each level before progressing on to the next. For more information about Nuclear Throne, check out our hands-on impressions from PAX Prime 2013 and chat with Ismail.
Nuclear Throne is slated for an initial release on Windows PC followed by a launch on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita. It will be available through Steam Early Access and Humble Store in early October for $12.99.
