Bethesda re-ups trademark for unannounced project called Spyteam

Spies hiding in a bush.
(Image credit: Rebecca van Ommen via Getty)

Zenimax Media has renewed a trademark for a product called Spyteam, a long-rumoured title that has previously surfaced in the same way. Spyteam does sound a tiny bit like the kind of show my five year-old would watch, though it also suggests a multiplayer focus—and of course it's always quite amusing when something related to espionage is found out.

The new application was spotted by Twitter user SkullziTV (thanks, PCGN): the application was filed by ZeniMax on January 28, 2022.

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Spyteam first came to light in 2018 thanks to a similar trademark filing, and several factors point towards it being a Bioware Austin title. Austin is also responsible for Fallout 76, but back then it was moving on from a cancelled multiplayer game called Battlecry. In fact, the studio had been called Battlecry Studios. Battlecry was a "32-person online multiplayer combat game" originally scheduled to launch in 2015, and had designer Viktor Antonov attached—best known for his work on Half-Life 2 and Dishonored. It never surfaced.

Whether what Battlecry was bears any relation to what Spyteam will be remains to be seen, but job listings for the studio confirm it's working on at least one unannounced title. Austin is not the only option however: Bethesda Montreal is also working on something, as is Roundhouse Studios (formerly Human Head Studios).

Rich Stanton

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."