Electronic Arts may have one more publishing sub-brand up its corporate sleeve, filing trademarks for the name "Visceral Games." What EA has planned for a possible Visceral brand, we honestly don't know. But we have guesses!
It's no secret that EA loves to slap carefully market researched labels like "All-Play," "Freestyle" and "BIG" on its brands, helping consumers figure out which games are right for them. But the majority of those have been designed to let serious video game sports fans that games like SSX and Facebreaker are either wacky, zany or kooky.
Visceral Games could be the publisher's way of letting EA consumers which of its titles are more adult-focused, using the favored adjective of video game reviewers to describe games that go for the gut. It could be akin to Namco Bandai's "Surge" label which covers M-rated fare like Afro Samurai and Splatterhouse, letting Wii owners know those copies of Dead Space Extraction and Brutal Legend for the Wii aren't mini-game comps.
(But don't worry, Chilean grindcore band Visceral, EA is not swiping your death metal cliche logo. That's merely a mock up.)
We're in touch with EA to see if they'll spill any beans on their plans for Visceral Games and will update when they eventually confess.
Visceral Games [USPTO]