Sponsored By

Starbreeze Syndicate Deal, EA License Uncovered

Starbreeze copyrighted the Syndicate name last year, lending further corroboration to rumors that the studio is reviving Bullfrog's classic sci-fi series along with Electronic Arts.

Chris Remo, Blogger

April 14, 2010

1 Min Read
Game Developer logo in a gray background | Game Developer

Swedish developer Starbreeze has been found to have copyrighted the Syndicate name last year, lending further corroboration to rumors that the studio is reviving Bullfrog's classic sci-fi series along with Electronic Arts. According to a string of United States Copyright Office filings first turned up by "information-sleuthing site" Superannuation, Starbreeze was assigned the Syndicate copyright last June. Two of the documents refer to a "copyright mortgage and assignment," along with mention of City National Bank, a financial institution that likely provided financial backing, and Sidecar I AB, a Starbreeze subsidiary. Furthermore, Electronic Arts is named in the context of a "license agreement." It is not clear whether EA is licensing the Syndicate name to Starbreeze, or if it sold the name to Starbreeze, at which point Starbreeze licensed it to EA for publishing purposes. Speculation about a new Syndicate game from Starbreeze and EA has been collecting for years. Last month, Starbreeze said it had canceled one of two projects it was developing for EA, one of which was a game based on Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne character and one of which was "Project RedLime" -- widely thought to be Syndicate. Of the two games, most industry chatter has pointed to the Bourne project being the one on the chopping block.

About the Author

Chris Remo

Blogger

Chris Remo is Gamasutra's Editor at Large. He was a founding editor of gaming culture site Idle Thumbs, and prior to joining the Gamasutra team he served as Editor in Chief of hardcore-oriented consumer gaming site Shacknews.

Daily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inbox

You May Also Like