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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchGames use fictional cities, politicians, and companies chiefly because invented details give developers control over how a world looks, works, and fits the story. A made-up setting can borrow recognizable features from real places while changing its map, institutions, and businesses to suit play or tone. Legal questions can also matter, but fictional names are not a universal shield from legal risk.
What fictional places and institutions let developers control
Build a city around gameplay
A game map has to serve more than geography: it may need clear routes, mission locations, landmarks, and spaces for environmental storytelling. An invented city or island lets designers arrange those elements without promising an exact reproduction of a real place.
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Ubisoft creative director Eric Couzian said the fictional island of Auroa in Ghost Recon Breakpoint gave the team “total freedom of creativity to create the open world.” The setting supported the game’s private-island premise and survival play, while the team still aimed for believable terrain and tactical challenges. Ubisoft’s interview with Couzian (August 8, 2019) describes that balance.
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Fictional counterparts can preserve a city’s recognizable character while changing names and details to create a more stylized world. In its discussion of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the Ninth Circuit described Los Santos and the game’s other cities as modeled on Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Las Vegas, with altered place and business names. The opinion also described the game as dystopic and cartoonish. That is one case’s account of one game, not a general ruling about every fictional setting. The opinion is reproduced in Barton Beebe’s Trademark Law: An Open-Source Casebook.
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Use fictional officials and companies in specific scenarios
An invented politician, company, or public authority gives a story room to assign decisions, policies, or wrongdoing to a character or institution created for that world. That can help keep fictional events distinct from claims about an actual organization or person. The exact reasons vary by game; there is no basis for treating this as a universal industry rule.
Why some games use real cities instead
A real place can offer landmarks, history, and local identity that are difficult to replace convincingly. Sucker Punch co-founder Brian Fleming explained that Seattle suited inFAMOUS Second Son in part because “it’s pretty hard to imagine doing Seattle and doing a fictional Space Needle.” He contrasted that choice with earlier fictional cities: “Obviously Empire City was inspired by New York, and New Marais was inspired by New Orleans.” Fleming’s PlayStation.Blog interview (March 11, 2014) discusses the decision.
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Using a real city does not require a one-to-one map. For The Order: 1886, Ready At Dawn co-founder Ru Weerasuriya described drawing on London’s history, real people, events, and locations to ground an alternate-history story, while moving places and adding locations that did not exist. “Because this game is based in the real world, we wanted to feed off that and use some of the events, the people and the stuff that existed in that time to accentuate and bring our IP into a world that is believable.” His PlayStation.Blog interview (June 14, 2013) explains how the team adapted London.
Fiction and authenticity are not opposites
Games can mix real and invented elements in several ways. The useful question is how much the experience depends on actual history, landmarks, or local character—and how much freedom the designers need to shape the map and story.
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| Approach | Example | What it makes possible |
|---|---|---|
| Invented setting with realistic systems | Auroa in Ghost Recon Breakpoint | A controllable open world designed around the private-island premise, survival, and tactical play. |
| Real city altered for a story | London in The Order: 1886 | Historical grounding and recognizable geography alongside moved or invented locations. |
| Fictional counterpart modeled on real cities | Los Santos and its sister cities in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas | Familiar urban cues with renamed places and businesses suited to the game’s tone. |
| Real city and landmarks | Seattle in inFAMOUS Second Son | Local identity and signature landmarks such as the Space Needle. |
Are fictional names used to avoid legal trouble?
Legal issues can be one consideration, but they do not explain every fictional city or entity. A GDC Vault session description for Marc Mayer’s “Building Convincing Virtual Worlds: The Use of IP in Games” identifies potential questions involving trademarks, copyright, and rights of publicity when games use real-world products, places, or personalities. The session description frames areas that may require attention; it is not a complete legal analysis.
Different elements raise different questions: a city name, a depiction of a building, a company logo, and a portrayal of a living person are not interchangeable. The Ninth Circuit’s discussion of San Andreas concerns a particular dispute and context; it does not establish that every game must rename real places or that a fictional label or disclaimer alone removes legal risk. A 2010 Berkeley Technology Law Journal article on architectural works in video games examines some of the creative and legal trade-offs around building depictions, but it should be read as period-specific scholarly analysis, not current legal advice.
For a real project, the relevant facts, jurisdiction, and current law matter. Fictionalization is a creative tool and may also be a risk-management choice; it is not a guarantee of legal safety.
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