Left, Dragon Age package. Right, Guild Wars 2 logo. Everywhere: Firey blood dragons.

I have to say I like the Guild Wars 2 dragon better — the styling is solid, and it actually looks like a 2. Dragon Age obviously had the head start, though. I’m sure none of this was intentional, of course. As a marketer, you want to ensure that you can present a strong brand — a logo or general style that persists in all of your marketing materials — that is immediately identifiable to your fans and potential fans while standing out from the competition. Are Dragon Age and Guild Wars 2 direct competitors? Probably not — they offer different gameplay experiences, and Guild Wars 2 isn’t coming out for a while (Dragon Age, presumably, will be out in December… ?). I’d still be a bit iffy about how similar the imagery is.

We recently (not so recently) went back and changed the Witcher logo at CD Projekt RED for the currently-on-hold The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf. We felt that the original logo was a bit “me-too” in the fantasy realm, and that it could use a facelift to stand out and really present the console version as a striking new product.

Left, before. Right, after awesomeification.

Does branding impact you at all? Does it bother you when two brands use similar imagery? Am I just a filthy marketing snob for even noticing?