Who has taken the name Mazement in App Store?

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by MarkZero, Feb 19, 2013.

  1. MarkZero

    MarkZero Member

    Feb 15, 2013
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    Game Programmer at Wroghut
    Finland
    Hello TouchArcade forums,

    I am part of Wronghut, a small 3-man indie game development team based in Finland. We were just about to publish our first game Mazement (http://www.mazement-game.com), when we found out that someone has taken the name in App Store. Couple of weeks ago we checked in iTunes Connect that the name is still available but then wanted to create proper screenshots and texts for the App Store page and still fix some bugs before submitting and in that short time the name had been reserved by someone else.

    Since Apple won’t tell us who it is that has reserved the name, nor are they willing to pass on a message from us to them, we are asking here in case whoever they are might read this forum, or someone on the forum knows them and could pass on the message.

    We have spent over a year developing our game and it is not nice to be halted by this and change the name just as we are about to release. We also have already done some marketing (sent a press release, set up a web-page, made a teaser trailer) using the name Mazement and for example have the first page in google results for Mazement, so we think it would be better for the other developer too if they went with a different name so they won’t have to try and beat us in for example the google results. The app developer who has taken the name Mazement in the App Store, if you are reading this, could you possibly be so kind as to change your app’s name to something else and give the name Mazement “back” to us?

    In all reality, we do not believe the developer who has taken the name even reads this forum but we just felt that the only thing left in our power to do about this is to reach out this way.

    And yes, we know we should have reserved the name in the App Store in advance but we didn’t because we felt we need to prepare the material properly first, which as we now know was a rookie mistake.

    Sorry our first post has to be about this and not about releasing our debut product Mazement. We would have had these nice screenshots ready and everything.

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]

    And here is our teaser too:

     
  2. ThreeCubes

    ThreeCubes Well-Known Member

    Oct 13, 2012
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    hi even if they change their name im not sure it will become automatically available. have apple said they will allow you to take it if it is dropped?
     
  3. tofusoup

    tofusoup Well-Known Member

    Aug 23, 2010
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    Game Designer
    San Francisco
    #3 tofusoup, Feb 19, 2013
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2013
    I don't even think you can transfer names even if you found out who. Once it's been registered, that's it, and if those guys don't release a game with that name, it will eventually expire. Supposedly you can then never use that name again.

    You should register way ahead of time, because you can always submit builds to get rejected to keep the name.

    You can just use "Mazement Game" :)
     
  4. ThreeCubes

    ThreeCubes Well-Known Member

    Oct 13, 2012
    743
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  5. tofusoup

    tofusoup Well-Known Member

    Aug 23, 2010
    143
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    Game Designer
    San Francisco
    or how about aMazement
     
  6. Vovin

    Vovin 👮 Spam Police 🚓

    Nov 28, 2009
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    Germany

    Now that's gold!
     
  7. sprite

    sprite Member

    Feb 3, 2013
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    I think what might have happened is that Apple reserved the name when you checked if it was available and cancelled the creation. Normally just reserve the name and upload a dummy screenshot (could just be a blank image). One trick I've heard of others using but have not tested myself is to set "Canadian English" as your primary language and see if the name is available.
     
  8. I did it and that worked great for me, eh.
     
  9. sprite

    sprite Member

    Feb 3, 2013
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    Great, eh :D
     
  10. MarkZero

    MarkZero Member

    Feb 15, 2013
    11
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    Game Programmer at Wroghut
    Finland
    #10 MarkZero, Feb 20, 2013
    Last edited: Feb 20, 2013
    So how does it work then if we submit the app as Mazement in Canadian or Australian English and the other Mazement gets also accepted to App Store. Will there then be two apps named Mazement in the App Store. Or will our app only be available in Australia and/or Canada or something?

    Edit: Or is it so that the name is only available in other default languages if it was reserved by ourselves by accident when we canceled our first submission?
     
  11. MarkZero

    MarkZero Member

    Feb 15, 2013
    11
    0
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    Game Programmer at Wroghut
    Finland
    Just to be sure we have now created the app as Mazement using UK English as default language.
     
  12. sprite

    sprite Member

    Feb 3, 2013
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    I'd say there is a 99% chance you accidentally reserved the name yourself.
     
  13. Just use something like these instead:
    • Mazement™
    • Mazement®
    • Mazement!
    • Mazement: Some clever tagline
    • Mazement by Insert Company Name Here
     
  14. Blackharon

    Blackharon Well-Known Member

    Mar 15, 2010
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    Game Designer for Ludia
    Canada
    Mazement the iPhone game better than temple run doodlejump and angry birds put together.

    This option is best for SEO ;)
     
  15. MarkZero

    MarkZero Member

    Feb 15, 2013
    11
    0
    0
    Game Programmer at Wroghut
    Finland
    We have now submitted our app for review as Mazement using the UK English default language. If there really is some other app there that has the name and that leads to apple rejecting our first submission, or someone has a registered trademark on the name or something (haven't been able to find any), only then we'll change the name.

    We have also created an announcement thread here:
    http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?p=2703106
     
  16. J. A. Whye

    J. A. Whye Well-Known Member

    Sep 26, 2010
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    Game Dev (tools & tutorials)
    Alaska
    Before I knew what I was doing (like I do, now???) I registered a name and then missed the deadline. I was *so* pissed. I figured if the name "dropped" I'd just grab it again -- then Apple told me I'd *NEVER* be able to use that name again, even if nobody else ever wanted it.

    So I added an exclamation point to the name and used that. Dur.

    I was about to miss a deadline recently so I uploaded a working app and set the release date for about 16 months from now. In the next month I'll get the app the way I want, update it and then reset the release date. Yes, I kind of feel like I'm cheating, but things often slip in software development and with a hard deadline on the name thing I'm not sure what else to do.

    Jay
     
  17. opsive

    opsive Well-Known Member

    Feb 20, 2009
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    Raleigh, NC
    I know it used to work that way, but I thought Apple recently changed it so you can pick the name up again if it expires? I can't find the announcement to support this though...
     

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