Take-Two Renews Mysterious "Judas" Trademark

Take-Two, the parent company of 2K and Rockstar, is one of the biggest, wealthiest video game publishers out there, thanks largely to 2K’s sport offerings and Rockstar’s… well… everything. Anything the publisher puts out is pretty big news, so when I say that apparently they have a mysterious project they’ve been keeping a pin on for the next four years, that’s probably as good a reason as any to stand at attention: especially considering how spicy the project’s codename is.

The project in question is called “Judas”, and Rockstar has been silently renewing the trademark on the word for the past four years. After registering it in 2016, they just renewed it earlier this year, a fact that only recently drew the attention of the gaming world. It’s also been revealed that the domain name “Judasthegame.com” is owned by them as well – which makes it clear, if it wasn’t safe to assume, that this project would be a game.

Judas, of course, is almost certainly at least referencing the biblical figure who betrayed Jesus and got him nailed to the cross. While I very much doubt even Rockstar would touch a game where you play the biblical Judas, it makes a lot of sense as a codename for a different project where betrayal might take center-stage. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that sounds like the perfect kind of code name for a new Grand Theft Auto - they’re still rocking GTA V well enough - but I think it would also be foolish not to assume they don’t have some kind of plan for that game, and Judas might be them laying the groundwork for it.

Or, equally likely, it’s an old project they’ve abandoned but don’t want to give up. That happens every bit as often too, although renewing trademarks for dead projects, less so.

Anyway, just food for thought.