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The VR development studio founded by Rick & Morty co-creator Justin Roiland has undergone a rebrand.
Squanchtendo was founded by Roiland and Epic Games producer Tanya Watson last year. The name was formed from ‘Squanch’, which is the name of a planet from Rock & Morty that is populated by cat-like creatures, and ‘tendo’, which is obviously a play on Nintendo.
The studio has not directly suggested that it was put under any legal pressure from Nintendo but does cite the similarity of the names for its decision to rebrand to Squanch Games.
“We recently discovered a video game related company with a similar name to our former name,” a statement said. “We never could have predicted the discovery of a video game entity with such a similar name. What a surprise to us. We were shocked and surprised. So we decided in order to avoid confusion we are changing the back half of our name!
“We are now Squanch Games! Hooray! Also it’s National Microwave Oven Day! Did you know that? Go celebrate!”
The announcement was also accompanied by a revised version of its initial launch statement, which of course came in comic book form.
Squanch also said to look out for some news at tonight’s The Game Awards.
“Founded in 2016, the idea for Squanch Games was living in the brain of Justin Roiland for multiple years before the studio got properly started up,” the studio’s about page explains. “A gamer his whole life, he awoke to the idea of doing game design once he played with an Oculus DK2 headset. The possibilities of the technology and how it could be used for comedy combined with great gameplay was super exciting.
“Justin reached out to multiple potential developers, including Crows Crows Crows for the opportunity to collaborate and to just make some funny and fun stuff in VR.
“In 2016, Justin met up with Tanya Watson, who after leaving Epic Games after 10 years there working on games like Gears of War, Bulletstorm, and Fortnite, was eager to get into the VR space herself. So with their powers combined, they formed to create Squanch Games.
“We want to make stuff that people love. Games that we want to play ourselves. Experiences that we would like to be totally immersed in and enjoy for hours at a time, as well as shorter, crazier experiences that would be great to play with a group of friends or possibly with stray homeless people that you invited in so you could feed and bathe them. So come join us. Be a part of Squanch Games. Make games with us! or start saving your pennies up so you can purchase them when they come out. We hope you love them as much as we do.”
