Swedish developer Starbreeze has been found to have copyrighted the
Syndicate name last year, lending further corroboration to rumors that the studio is reviving Bullfrog's classic sci-fi series along with Electronic Arts.
According to a string of United States Copyright Office filings first turned up by
"information-sleuthing site" Superannuation, Starbreeze was assigned the
Syndicate copyright last June.
Two of the documents refer to a "copyright mortgage and assignment," along with mention of City National Bank, a financial institution that likely provided financial backing, and Sidecar I AB, a Starbreeze subsidiary.
Furthermore, Electronic Arts is named in the context of a "license agreement." It is not clear whether EA is licensing the
Syndicate name to Starbreeze, or if it sold the name to Starbreeze, at which point Starbreeze licensed it to EA for publishing purposes.
Speculation about a new
Syndicate game from Starbreeze and EA has been collecting for years.
Last month, Starbreeze said it had canceled one of two projects it was developing for EA, one of which was a game based on Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne character and one of which was "Project RedLime" -- widely thought to be
Syndicate.
Of the two games, most industry chatter has pointed to the Bourne project being the one on the chopping block.
