'Brink' trademarked by Bethesda parent company

Finally! A game where I can be a soul skater!

I'M SO GLAD SOMEONE ELSE MADE THIS REFERENCE!

Well, because software development takes years and games are under "Working Titles" until they fully commit to a title. It costs money to trademark something and a game is produced mostly in secrecy with strict NDA's attached. This means any unique products a company makes are kept hush from competitors as even the slightest hint of a trademark by say; Activison which has even a remotely music-ish sounding title leads to rampant "OMG NEW * HERO FRANCHISE?" speculation.

Of course, it all depends on the developer. Some do it differently and actually trademark something just at the start of development, but often video games go through so many changes from start to finish that it would be foolish to fully commit to one name from the get-go. I believe Left 4 Dead was originally titled "Terror Strike" or something similar, if Valve had trademarked "Terror Strike" initially, it would have been unlikely they'd have changed the title to Left 4 Dead later. I suppose simply what I'm trying to say is: "Keep your options open", by trademarking a title early, you're compromising choice later down the line. However, there is the risk someone else could go and trademark the same name while you diddle-dally. However, it's very unlikely in most cases.

Nah, I don't think so.