The 28-year-old game developer Jacob "Ziggy" Shaw has been working on his new game on his own for about a year and a half.

The game "The store is closed" falls within the genre of survival horror and is about escaping from an endless, maze-like, furniture department store where the staff are constantly working against you.

Shaw had not expected to be able to work on the project full-time, but had suddenly raised over half a million kroner through Kickstarter, a crowdfunding service.

But at the end of October, an email came from lawyers representing the furniture giant Ikea, in which they claim that Shaw is committing trademark infringement.

The message states that the department store in the game, with its blue facade, yellow sign and other minor details, reminds too much of Ingvar Kamprad's real business and that it needed to be changed.

- It has been very stressful and both me and my fans are upset because we want the game to be true to the original idea.

But now I just want to get out of this unscathed, he tells Kulturnyheterna.

"Wouldn't Survive"

Shaw admits that there are similarities between the game and reality and also understands that the furniture giant is protecting its brand.

At the same time, he believes that he, as a single individual, cannot measure up to a company like Ikea, which in 2021 had a turnover of up to SEK 460 billion, if there were to be a legal process.

- There is no chance that I would survive any kind of lawsuit.

Even if I could win, at the end of the day it comes down to who is the greatest.

So I have no choice but to agree to the terms.

He believes the event will have consequences among indie game developers.

- It will be an example of not including anything from reality in their games, something that comics and movies have been able to do for a long time.

It will stifle creativity.

Ikea: Never threatened with a lawsuit

Ikea emphasizes that it has not threatened a lawsuit, but that it is serious about protecting its brand.

In a written response to Kulturnyheterna, the company says that:

"This is not a question of David versus Goliath, this is about us having to nurture Ikea as a brand and the attributes that characterize it."

See what the game looks like in the clip above.