Earlier this month it was revealed that game publisher Bethesda Softworks had filed a lawsuit against Mojang, the team responsible for the hit PC sandbox game Minecraft. Bethesda claims that the title of Mojang's next game Scrolls is in violation of Bethesda's trademarks for its long running fantasy RPG series, The Elder Scrolls. Now Minecraft's creator has called out Bethesda to settle the lawsuit in a truly geeky way.
On his blog site, Mojang's Markus "Notch" Persson says, "I challenge Bethesda to a game of Quake 3. Three of our best warriors against three of your best warriors." Ironically Bethesda Softworks now owns both the Quake first person shooter franchise and the game's creator, developer id Software. Persson says, "If we win, you drop the lawsuit. If you win, we will change the name of Scrolls to something you're fine with." He added that no matter who wins the Quake 3 match, " ... we could still have a small text somewhere saying our game is not related to your game series in any way, if you wish."
Persson claims he is serious in his offer to settle this dispute with virtual rocket launchers and rail guns. So far there's no word if Bethesda Softworks will take Persson and Mojang up on its deathmatch lawsuit settlement. Meanwhile Mojang has been fairly silent about the status of the Scrolls game. It was announced earlier this year as a fantasy tactical strategy title which also uses collectible cards as part of its design.
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