What’s in a Name?

-Justin Fischer

Almost anybody who’s started a band, or a company, or any other sort of branded endeavor will likely agree on one thing: picking a name sucks.

Is it cool? Is it memorable? Is it meaningful? Does it have the right vibe? Are the relevant URL and social media accounts available? Is it still cool three weeks later? Do our friends smile and nod when they hear it, or do they tilt their heads with a nonplussed look, reminiscent of a dog trying to decide whether to bite you for fake-throwing the tennis ball AGAIN.

It’s no mean feat. And I’ve done it enough times to know that what sounds cool in the moment can sound like the dumbest thing ever once the novelty has worn off.

So, why Airlock Games?

It wasn’t any easier than any other time I’ve been involved in naming something. We knew we wanted something that sounded cool, that was memorable, that felt relevant to a company that wants to make horror games and, perhaps most of all, spoke to who Brock and I are. Now, if you’ve watched/played/read enough science fiction (particularly if there’s horror involved), you know that the ship’s airlock is the smart bomb of space travel. It doesn’t matter who - or what - the character is - everyone is vulnerable to the cold vacuum of space.

But the narrative reference is honestly the secondary reason we liked it. The main reason was far more personal.

Brock and I have been through many rodeos. We’ve survived all sorts of bumps in the road. And, most importantly, we have relentless senses of gallows humor. And I mean just incorrigible. “Airlock Games” didn’t necessarily jump up and bite us on the nose the first time we talked about it. But when we thought about what spoke to who we are and what we’ve been through and why we wanted to start our own studio, one thing stuck out to us: we’ve been blown out of a lot of airlocks.

Metaphorically speaking, of course. We mean the corporate kind of airlocks: layoffs. Eleven of them between the two of us.

And yet, we’re still here. Still standing. Still going. Fueled by a desire to keep creating. If you were to ask us what our overriding emotion is in the face of the value destroying travesty of the modern games industry, we would simply say “defiance”. Airlocks may have killed galactic emperors, aliens, and necromorphs, but they haven’t killed us.

And, as luck would have it, we still like the name.

Also, as a postscript, I don’t care what you think, don’t get your band/company/studio/blog/whatever’s name as a tattoo. Trust me. I’m speaking from experience here.

And, if you do, just make sure it’s spelled correctly.