Stellar Blade Triggers Legal Storm, Accidentally Queuing up Sony Into Paying the Karma for Nintendo’s Sins Instead

Stellar Blade is an action-adventure title that debuted back in April 2024 on PS5 and PC where gamers take control of a character called Eve, who must save humanity from a war against monstrous creatures. It didn’t completely blow us away, but it was a fun enough time.

Upon the game’s release, it mostly received favorable reviews. However, it courted controversy from some because of claims that Eve was sexualized through her outfits and character mode. Unfortunately, the game is right at the center of another storm as developer Shift Up and Sony are being sued.

Sony and Shift Up are Getting Sued Over Stellar Blade Name Rights

According to IGN, a Louisiana-based film production company called Stellarblade has decided to go after PlayStation and developer Shift Up and sue them over trademark infringements. The company claims that its business was massively damaged.

In the lawsuit, Stellarblade owner Griffith Chambers Mehaffey states that he has owned the company since 2010 and the website since 2006, which provides multimedia entertainment services.

His main issue with the video game Stellar Blade is that it has affected his business, claiming that people had no trouble finding his services before the title was announced but are now constantly being pushed into the game instead.

Mehaffey says that the video game was initially revealed globally as Project Eve but eventually switched its name to Stellar Blade in 2022. Shift Up had decided to apply for a trademark for the name in January 2023, which was just five months before Mehaffey put papers for his own trademark for Stellarblade in June 2023. He had sent the studio a cease and desist notice just a month later.

Lawsuit Demands Sony to Give Up Stellar Blade Name

Mehaffey is looking for a number of things in this lawsuit. He wants Sony and Shift Up to be forced to give up the use of Stellar Blade and any similar names in perpetuity.

He demands the two companies give up all the material under the video game’s name so he and Stellarblade can destroy it. He is also demanding to be paid for all kinds of damage and attorney fees he will have to pay for during this case.

It’s certainly a surprising case, though, that one feels doomed from the start just because of PlayStation’s size. It’s similar to the situation with Nintendo and Pocketpair, where things aren’t looking too good for Palworld.

This isn’t the first lawsuit Shift Up has dealt with. A few months ago, the developer was in the middle of a controversy for plagiarizing a Japanese artist’s character designs for its Goddess of Victory: Nikke. The developer publicly apologized for the issue on September 24th, declaring the issue was settled through private talks.

It’s difficult to see a positive outcome for the Louisiana-based company, considering who it is going against. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope justice prevails.

With that said, who do you think will win this legal battle? Let us know in the comments below.