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Games invent cities, politicians, and companies mainly to give creators control over a world’s layout, institutions, story, and tone. A fictional setting can borrow familiar landmarks or history while changing whatever does not fit the game. Real places can be the better choice when their identity and landmarks are central to the experience. Legal concerns may also influence decisions, but fictional names are not a universal shield against legal risk.
What fictional places and institutions let game makers control
Build a map around the game
An invented city can be arranged to support traversal, missions, landmarks, and environmental storytelling without having to match a real map. Ubisoft creative director Eric Couzian said Auroa, the island in Ghost Recon Breakpoint, was fictional because the team wanted “total freedom of creativity to create the open world.” That freedom supported the game’s private-island premise and survival experience, while the developers still aimed for believable terrain and tactical play. Ubisoft’s interview with Couzian was published on August 8, 2019.
Shape institutions and stories
A fictional company, public authority, or politician can be written into a specific plot without asserting that a real organization or person made the same choices. This is one creative use of invented entities, not a universal explanation for why every game uses them. It also does not mean a fictional name alone prevents legal disputes.
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Invented names let a game evoke a real place while adjusting its businesses, neighborhoods, and civic details to fit a satirical, fantastical, or alternate-history world. In its 2008 opinion in E.S.S. Entertainment 2000, Inc. v. Rock Star Videos, Inc., the Ninth Circuit described Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as using fictional cities modeled on Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Las Vegas, with altered place and business names. The opinion described the game’s world as dystopic and cartoonish and noted a disclaimer identifying its locations as fictional. That account concerns a specific dispute and is not a blanket ruling for every game or depiction. The opinion is reproduced in Barton Beebe’s Trademark Law: An Open-Source Casebook.
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Why use a real city instead?
A real place brings its own recognizable landmarks, local character, and history. Those qualities can make a setting more distinctive than an invented counterpart. Sucker Punch co-founder Brian Fleming explained that Seattle suited inFAMOUS Second Son partly because “it’s pretty hard to imagine doing Seattle and doing a fictional Space Needle.” The studio had previously used Empire City, inspired by New York, and New Marais, inspired by New Orleans. Fleming discussed those choices in a PlayStation.Blog interview published March 11, 2014.
Using a real city does not require reproducing it exactly. Ready At Dawn co-founder Ru Weerasuriya described how The Order: 1886 drew on London’s history, real people, events, and places, while moving locations and adding places that did not exist. The aim was to anchor an alternate-history story in a recognizable city without making a one-to-one map. Weerasuriya discussed the approach in a PlayStation.Blog interview published June 14, 2013.
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Fiction and realism are a spectrum
Game settings are not limited to a choice between a completely invented world and a faithful real-world map. These examples show several ways to combine creative control with recognizable references:
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| Approach | Example | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Fictional world with realistic systems | Ghost Recon Breakpoint | Auroa is invented, while the developers aimed for believable terrain, survival demands, and tactical play. |
| Real place with fictional changes | The Order: 1886 | London’s history and geography anchor the setting, but locations are moved or invented. |
| Fictional counterpart modeled on real cities | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas | Fictional cities evoke major American cities while changing names and details. |
| Real city and landmarks | inFAMOUS Second Son | Seattle and the Space Needle provide specific local identity. |
Developers weighing these approaches can consider how much the story depends on a place’s history, whether signature landmarks matter to recognition, how much the gameplay needs a controllable map, and whether the intended tone is documentary, satirical, fantastical, or alternate-history.
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Are fictional settings mainly about avoiding legal trouble?
Not necessarily. Creative freedom is a directly stated reason for Auroa, and Seattle’s real landmarks were a reason to use an actual city in inFAMOUS Second Son. Legal questions can be part of the decision, but the available examples do not establish that developers usually fictionalize settings to avoid lawsuits.
A GDC Vault session description for Marc Mayer’s “Building Convincing Virtual Worlds: The Use of IP in Games” identifies trademarks, copyrights, and rights of publicity as issues that can arise when games use real-world products, places, or personalities. The categories are distinct: a city name, a building depiction, a company logo, and a portrayal of a living person do not automatically raise identical questions. The GDC session description frames these as complex legal issues; it is not a complete legal analysis.
A 2010 Berkeley Technology Law Journal article examined architectural representations in games and the legal and creative trade-offs involved at that time. It is scholarly analysis from its publication period, not current legal advice. Read the article, “Architectural Works in Video Games: A Practical Look at the (Lack of) Freedom of Panorama. Legal outcomes depend on the facts, jurisdiction, and applicable law, so a fictional name or disclaimer should not be treated as a guarantee of safety.
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How to read a game’s invented world
When a city or institution feels familiar but is not named after a real one, it may be doing two jobs at once: borrowing enough real-world detail to make the setting legible, while changing enough to suit the map, story, or tone. A fictional city can be more than a disguised real one; it can also be a purpose-built setting. Conversely, an actual city can remain recognizable even when its geography has been altered for the game.
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