EA stops trying to trademark ‘ghost’ for Need for Speed dev

EA has withdrawn its application to trademark the word ‘ghost’ for use in game titles and the name of its Need for Speed studio.

The publisher filed a motion to take control of the word back in January, before being opposed by Ubisoft, the company behind the long-running Ghost Recon franchise.

EA’s Ghost Games is best known for producing 2013’s Need for Speed: Rivals, as well as last year’s self-titled reboot. It’s currently developing the next entry in the series, which would have presumably been called Need for Speed: Ghosts should the motion have passed, just to make the most of the move.

However, EA’s bold attempt to capture ‘ghost’ has now been busted following the firm’s withdrawal of its application to trademark the word for use in “computer and video game software”.

For the moment, a second filing trying to tie down the word for use in online services relating to games remains open, but is likely to dissipate like a phantom soon.

Speaking curtly on the matter, an EA spokesperson told PC Gamer: "We now have an agreement with Ubisoft to carry on with our respective trademarks.

"Nothing will change with respect to our use of the Ghost Games studio name."