Imagine you invest a lot of time in developing your game, the assets and promotional materials are ready – but shortly before the release on Steam, a completely different game throws a wrench in your plans. That’s what recently happened to the developer of Rivals of Aether II.
What game is it? Rivals of Aether II is a fighting game that is scheduled to be released on Steam on October 24, 2024. Its predecessor enjoys an “extremely positive” rating of 97% on Steam and is considered an insider tip.
Shortly before release, however, the developer realized that his game had an unfortunate similarity to an upcoming NetEase title.
Warning, risk of confusion? Marvel Rivals is an upcoming hero shooter.
English trailer for the PvP shooter Marvel Rivals
More videos
Autoplay
Name change has unforeseen consequences
What was the problem? Studio boss Dan Fornace wanted to deviate from the previous name for his new game. The sequel to Rivals of Aether was to be called “Rivals 2”. A beta weekend had already been held under this name (via X).
The previous marketing was based on the name, the new logo is prominently placed everywhere:
But then Rivals 2 received unexpected competition in the form of a 6v6 shooter with superheroes. Marvel Rivals is a hero shooter from NetEase that is scheduled to launch on December 6, 2024.
If the shooter is actually surprisingly good, as the first players are reporting (via Reddit) – and doesn’t disappear into obscurity without a trace – the similarity in names is obviously a problem for Fornace. To make matters worse, the font of Rivals 2 was also similar to that of Marvel Rivals.
How much trust can be placed in the praises of Marvel Rivals is still somewhat unclear, however, because: Gaming studio prohibits Twitch streamers from criticizing the new shooter with Marvel heroes
The developer noted in a post in August that he had not expected that a Marvel game inspired by Overwatch would ruin his plans for 2024 – just about 2 months before his game was due to be released (via X).
Fans say: The old name was better anyway
So what to do? It’s simple: Rivals 2 is now called Rivals of Aether II again and has a new logo that clearly focuses on the “Aether”. Here you can see the direct comparison:
Fornace writes: “The feeling when you have to rename your entire game a month before release because Marvel Rivals is actually a good game.” For the studio, the short-term renaming was certainly a big effort and associated with a lot of stress.
The new, old name, however, is well received by fans. Many write that they prefer the original title anyway and that they really understand why the “Aether” should be removed. Over time, players will probably shorten the name to “Rivals” on their own anyway, writes one fan (via X). Plus, there’s still the acronym “RoA”.
Most developers will certainly not take the decision to rename their game lightly. After all, they risk losing recognition, and assets and marketing materials may have to be laboriously recreated. One developer, however, seems to take it a little more lightly: Developer changes the name of his game while cursing because players are annoying him – now he’s changing it a second time