As quickly as it disappeared, Edge by Mobigame is back on the App Store, sporting another new name and peace at last with Edge Games.
It’s been a long and winding road for Mobigame’s acclaimed iPhone game. Not long after its release, it attracted the attention of Tim Langdell and Edge Games, which filed a complaint with Apple that resulted in the game’s removal from the App Store. Some months later, it reappeared as Edge by Mobigame, along with a message from Mobigame’s David Papazian essentially trumpeting Langdell’s demise. That was a bit premature, as it turned out; Edge Games struck back with another complaint, resulting in another removal of the game yesterday.
In surprisingly short order, however, it’s back again and this time it looks set to stay. Despite saying it had no interest in settling, Edge by Mobigame has been renamed to Edgy, a title Edge Games initially resisted but then indicated it could live with. Mobigame pointed out that the change affects only the U.S. and U.K. markets, and that it will continue to be sold as Edge everywhere else.
“Mobigame conceded defeat and changed the name of their game to Edgy – thus effectively finally accepting the settlement proposal we made to them back in May,” Edge Games said in an email sent to The Escapist. “And no, we did not ask for money from them, nor did we bully them into making this decision.”
The name Edgy first came up in discussions between Mobigame and Edge Games back in May. Edge Games initially rejected the idea but then attempted to register the name as a trademark in the U.S. and offered to license it to Mobigame; whether or not any kind of licensing deal for the use of the Edgy name is in place now is unknown. We’ve contacted both Mobigame and Edge Games for more information and will update when we can.
UPDATE: Edge Games has told us that the latest name change does not involve any sort of licensing deal between Edge and Mobigame. “The idea of a licensing arrangement was nixed almost immediately after it was suggested [in May],” a company rep said via email. “Since late May it was always a matter of Edge proposing to Mobigame completely free and clear rights to EDGY, owned by Mobigame not under license from Edge. In the end, that is what Mobigame opted for just as we suggested all those months ago.”
Source: Develop
Published: Dec 2, 2009 01:04 am