Game Title - Does it Have to be Unique?

We've been working on a game for a while and its coming together nicely. Our goal is to have it up on Steam by the end of Summer.

Our game title is a short phrase like: "Catch that Cat" (that's not actually it - it's just an example).

I checked on Steam and there is no other game there with our exact title.

But, if I search on Google, I get two results: a free to play flash game from 2015 and a card game from 2014. Neither of these appear to have gathered much notice.

So, my question is, do you think will be fine using our title or do we need to come up with one that is 100% unique.

Thanks in advance,

Chris

 

How similar are these other games to yours in mechanics, art style, themes, whatever?

 

I would say making up a totally unique name is the safest option. And it also would make your game more distinguishable

 

The main thing to check is whether a name/brand is trademarked or not, and if so, in which countries.
You can search this on government websites and there are also online databases that claim to have worldwide coverage.

 

The games are all completely different in style, but in the example I use - they all have cats.

 

I was afraid someone would say that.

 

I would think the fact that there are already two games with this name (and they are both older and not popular) would mean that a third game with the same title would be okay. But you're probably right. I just need to figure out to search for that.

 

It sounds like you're trying to imply that they have a similar conceit or "theme" (which you shouldn't be afraid to state, no one here is going to steal your game name).

If they do, I'd say there's a moderate impetus to change it. If they don't, it would be better to change it, but there's less impetus.

How do you feel about your name? Does it have a special meaning to you, or is it something simple like "Catch the Cat"? If the title is important to the game in some way, that's a argument for keeping it. If it's just a simple description of the gameplay, there's less reason to keep it.

 

This is the least important factor here. There's not going to be any meaningful SEO issues where there's only two other games from 5+ years ago.

 

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I'm really split on what to do, but I will continue to think about it. Maybe another title will come to me and grab me like the current one does.

 

Whether or not it is the case, if a game doesn't have a unique name, then many people might think the game is not unique.

 

One good thing about having a unique name/title, is that it'll be in some cases, be easier to find on the internet search function. Especially if the name is memorable and kinda catchy too.

 

I feel with you!
I really wanted to use Blob Breeder as my games name but I also found a game with that name. Now i am using crazy latin words which probably no one will remember...

 

@ClaudiaTheDev
How about Blob Breeding Fun.