Action horror franchise The Evil Within may return after developer Tango Gameworks finishes GhostWire: Tokyo. A new discovery shows that ZeniMax, former parent company of Tango before being absorbed by Xbox, renewed the trademark for The Evil Within IP for “continued use,” showing that there is at least some possibility of the series continuing.

The Evil Within is a fairly well-liked action horror series that takes heavy inspiration from the Resident Evil series, with the first game having been directed by original RE mastermind Shinji Mikami. Neither The Evil Within nor its sequel sold  as well as hoped, though, leading many to fear that there may be no future for the series. However, it looks as though the horror franchise may not have been abandoned just yet. Following Xbox’s acquisition of ZeniMax, it seems even more likely that a new sequel could make its way to players.

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Trademark filing hawk Trademarkia (via SomosXbox) reveals a filing for The Evil Within franchise that marks it for “continued use.” The filing was made back in August 2020, but it’s possible that Tango is already in pre-production on the psychological horror game and could possible tackle it once GhostWire: Tokyo releases this fall. It’ll still likely be a few years before it actually releases, if it is happening, but it shows a lot of promise for optimistic fans. At worst, though, this trademark re-registration shows that ZeniMax had no intention of leaving The Evil Within IP behind in the move to Xbox Game Studios.

During a live stream celebrating Xbox’s acquisition of ZeniMax, head of Xbox Phil Spencer expressed excitement in being able to work with Evil Within developer Tango. It’s possible that he could greenlight a sequel, as a new title in an established series would be quality content for Xbox Game Pass. GhostWire: Tokyo is slated for an October release, but will be a timed exclusive for PS5. Given the game won’t hit Xbox for at least a year, it’s likely Microsoft wants to get the team going on some new projects for its platform as soon as possible. As of right now, there hasn’t been much said regarding what exactly Xbox plans to do with ZeniMax’s studios besides making exclusive games.

It’s possible Microsoft will show off some new games from Bethesda and its other teams, but the studio gave a rather concrete outline of its next few years at E3 2018. It’s probably unlikely that there’s much of substance to show beyond Bethesda’s new sci-fi RPG, Starfield. Still, Tango’s horror franchise seems to be showing some life. The Evil Within got a first-person mode recently on PC, showing continued support for a rather old game, which hopefully bodes well for the future. Whether or not Tango and Xbox are committed to the franchise remains to be seen, though.

Source: Trademarkia (via SomosXbox)

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Cade Onder is a 20-year old video game, movie, and chicken tender enthusiast. He has been writing about games since he was 14 and is always trying to learn more about the gaming industry. You can follow him on Twitter @Cade_Onder for bad jokes, bad takes, and pictures of chicken tenders.

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