A new IP has been spotted after ZeniMax filed a Deathloop trademark with the US patent office. Apart from a name, we’re not sure what to expect from the title or when we might see it, though we can say with some confidence that the title will most likely to developed as a mobile game.
Why’s that? Well, in the ZeniMax patent for Deathloop, the description for the patent is labeled as “Mobile application software, namely, electronic game programs; computer game software for use with on-line interactive games.” It’s something that could point to Deathloop being another mobile game developed by Bethesda. Having already announced the likes of The Elder Scrolls: Blades for this year, and previous titles like Fallout Shelter, Bethesda has demonstrated its willingness to invest further into the mobile game market.
As for what this Deathloop will be, we can’t say with any certainty. VG247 points out that the term is usually reserved for issues with players stuck in a cycle of dying and respawning, like when you walk out of a town and are attacked by a dragon in Skyrim, for example. It could be that Deathloop is a puzzle game which would be something totally different to what we’ve seen from the developer in the past.
ZeniMax filed the patent in late December 2018. While it could be the case that Bethesda’s parent company does have concrete plans for the title, we’ve seen similar moves before surrounding trademarks that have led to nothing, with the patent simply being completed to ensure the name remain available to use in the future. And seeing that Deathloop is an objectively kick-ass name, ZeniMax could very well be saving it for a project that’s still in an early concept stage. Whether we’ll see an announcement soon remains to be seen, but how disappointing would it be if the name was being saved for some kind of video game bug ticketing service rather than an awesome puzzle game about trying to stop someone from dying over and over again?
