Frozen Endzone now Frozen Cortex, original name 'a bit rubbish'

Mode 7's upcoming turn-based strategy game is now Frozen Cortex and no longer Frozen Endzone, after the developer admitted a rebrand was necessary. In a frank blog post, the Frozen Synapse creator revealed its reasons for the change, one being "the original name was a bit rubbish and we got bored of it."

Mode 7 also introduced Mac and Linux versions this week in an update to the Steam Early Access release, as well as "significant" aesthetic changes. The studio added it believes the game looks better in its new guise, and that the original name was tied to perception of a "Madden game with robots."

"Cortex is a simultaneous-turn-based strategy game," Mode 7 said, "a tense competitive contest wrapped up in the trappings of a brutal futuristic sport. It's not a simulation of any existing sport; it takes an influence from [American] football but you can certainly play it without understanding even a smidgen of that particular game."

In fairness to the British studio, I got on with the game fine when i tried it last year, despite being much more versed in the proper European version of football.

It's no secret Mode 7's weary of the "friend zone" jokes spawned by the original name, but studio co-founder Paul Kilduff-Taylor dismissed that as the only reason for the change.

"That was definitely a factor," he said on Twitter, "but to say it was more than 20 percent of the decision would be totally, totally wrong."

For the record, I've tried to punny up the new name, but I can't beat this:

[Image: Mode 7]