News

Saban Contacts Chroma Squad Game Team Due to Power Ranger Similarities

Behold Games notified the Kickstarter backers of its Chroma Squad video game that it was approached by Saban Brands due to similarities to the Power Rangers franchise. According to a backers-only update, the Brazil-based game company was offered to either split the royalties with Saban or go to court to prevent Chroma Squad's release.

Behold Games told gaming website Joystiq that it chose "a win-win negotiation" to discuss terms with Saban. The company wrote in its update that Chroma Squad is not inspired by Power Rangers alone, but Super Sentai genre, and it is not a creation of Saban.

The game's official website describes the title as follows:

Tactical turn-based manager game, with sentai heroes and old-school pixel art! Everything you want in a fresh indie game!

In this game you become responsible for managing and recording episodes for a sentai TV studio. Hire actors, craft equipment from carboard and duct tape, record episodes and explode everything up!

Behold Games wrote to Joystiq. "So, if we're negotiating a win-win partnership, we won't change anything in the game, and we'll make it in a way that we could get some advertisement from them, and use some direct references of their show. I know some of the players will like it."

The campaign raised US$97,148 over the course of its campaign last year. Chroma Squad was expected for release on Mac, PC, and Linux systems this summer followed by other platforms later this year.

Thanks to ravegrl for the news tip