EA Trademarks Corroborate Visceral Games' 'Jack The Ripper' Rumors

Two new trademark applications by Electronic Arts have lent credence to existing rumors that the company's Visceral Games studio is developing a game based on the infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper. As uncovered by Superannuation, which frequently lays bare unannounced but publicly-available IP-related information, EA registered the trademark "The Ripper" for both "computer game software" and the broader "entertainment services" last week. In July, a Los Angeles Times blog post reported that Visceral Games (formerly EA Redwood Shores), which developed Dead Space and is completing work on Dante's Inferno, would use the still-unsolved Jack the Ripper case as the basis for its next major video game. The rumor came as Visceral's general manager Glen Schofield was departing the studio to head up a new Activision development house. Like the upcoming Dante's Inferno, The Ripper would gain the benefits of an established fiction with a strong foothold in the public consciousness, without the licensing costs that come with fully-owned modern properties -- while still allowing EA to effectively call dibs on the video game versions of the stories by being the first to tackle them with such high budget and visibility. There are still no details as to the nature of the gameplay or a release time frame for the unannounced game.