Bethesda, by way of its parent company ZeniMax Studios, has renewed a trademark for a still relatively unknown product called Spyteam. Spotted by Twitter user SKULLZI, the trademark application was filed in late January in 2022, though the history of Spyteam is actually long and has seemingly been in development limbo for many years.
Spyteam trademark has a mysteriously long paper trail
Zenimax first filed a trademark for Spyteam in July 2018, and since then until July 2021, an extension for it has been filed and granted five times. As the filing arrived not too soon before Bethesda officially opened its Austin studio, the Spyteam moniker likely refers to that developer’s prior work on a team-based multiplayer game called BattleCry.
They decided to scrap that project, but then job listings for Bethesda Montréal and Austin for an unannounced game were revealed by Xbox News. At that time, SKULLZI once again believed that the game was either Spyteam or Giant Monster News.
Spyteam, a secret Bethesda game that seems to have been in the works for some time now, recently had its trademark application filed for 2022. Could we finally find out what this game is later in the year?#Bethesda #Xbox pic.twitter.com/WVMDixotR5
— SKULLZI 💀🎮 (@SkullziTV) March 6, 2022
Discovering new games through trademarks filings isn’t new for Bethesda as Redfall was also found out in 2018. Today, we know Redfall as an Arkane Austin title, an open-world co-operative shooter that should arrive in Summer 2022 as an Xbox exclusive and playable on Day One with Xbox Game Pass. As the Spyteam trademark was filed in the same year as Redfall’s, it provides evidence that the game has had a rocky journey so far, though Bethesda still believes in the project.
Todd Howard, director and producer at Bethesda Game Studios, stated in a roundtable discussion with Xbox after the studio was acquired by Microsoft that Bethesda being a part of the Xbox Game Pass ecosystem would give experimental games more of a chance to be green-lighted. Many innovative games are cut on the editing floor because their appeal is unknown, but being a part of a subscription-based model like Xbox Game Pass gives the studio more leeway in what they approve. Spyteam could be one of those games which has benefited from this deal, and we hope that it makes a reveal soon enough.
In other news, Xbox Game Pass will be getting Guardians of the Galaxy and Lightning Returns: FFXIII this month, and Microsoft has restricted sales and services in Russia due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
