Shelly “Bombshell” Harrison, the spiritual successor to Duke Nukem (who owes her creation to a 2014 lawsuit) now has a new name for her latest game. It’s Ion Fury, replacing Ion Maiden, which attracted the notice of heavy metal band Iron Maiden earlier this year.
A statement from 3D Realms on Thursday straight-up acknowledged the title change is “to avoid legal issues with a certain popular heavy metal band.” Ion Fury, the statement said, will make a full launch on PC on Aug. 15; it has been in Steam Early Access since February 2018.
In May, Iron Maiden’s holding company sued 3D Realms over both the Ion Maiden name and its logo, which the company said closely resembled the “steel cut” typeface of the band’s trademark.
The band sought millions in damages and several injunctions, including the destruction of any products bearing the “Ion Maiden” title and the cancellation of the domain ionmaiden.com — which now redirects to ionfury.com. But the case is still listed as pending before U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Ion Fury is the follow-up to 2016’s Bombshell. That game began as Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction until a 2014 lawsuit from Gearbox Software, which forced 3D Realms to create a new character and storyline.
The latest game is built in the Build engine, the same software behind 1996’s Duke Nukem 3D and 1997’s Shadow Warrior. Thursday’s news release said Ion Fury “fuses nostalgic looks with today’s technology to create the ultimate shooter.” Ion Fury will incorporate modern features like auto-saving, headshots, widescreen support and improved physics with its retro visuals.
“After careful consideration, we’ve decided to rename our first-person shooter ‘Ion Maiden’ to Ion Fury,” Mike Nielsen, the chief executive of 3D Realms, said in a statement. “A lot of thought went into this, but most importantly, it would be a disservice to our loyal fanbase and the fantastic developers to drag out a long lawsuit.”
Ion Fury will launch later for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, 3D Realms said. No specific date was given.