Hello everyone,

I'm currently setting up my itch.io account, and I was wondering if it's necessary to use my real name for my username, especially since I don't own a company. Would it be more beneficial to use my real name for building a personal brand, or is it common practice to use a pseudonym instead?

I'm considering using a made-up name like 'Nice Gamesz' as my username and brand on itch.io. However, I’m concerned about potential issues if a company or organization with a similar name already exists or if one is registered in the future. Could this cause any legal or branding conflicts down the line, and what steps should I take to avoid such problems?

Thank you for your guidance!

What if someone with the same real name or similar name does business now or in the future?

If you are actually trying to build a brand, you are essentially building a business and businesses have to be registered in some form or another. This is not legal advise, or course. But I do assume the registrary where you register your business will have to check, if another business with the same name already exists. If you do business under your real name, it might be, that neither you nor someone with the same name has any protection. And it might be, that if you and another company use the same name, but operate in different sectors, you might coexist. And it might be, that the company that registers or uses the name nice-gamesz first has the rights to it - within the registrary's jurisdiction.

That being said, I have three things to add.

After ten seconds of using a search engine extensive research , I can tell you, no one currently uses your name.

No one cares. If you make enough money that someone would care, you also would make enough money to deal with this professionally and rebrand/register/hire actual legal consultants. Just try not to use a name that can be mistaken for some known company. 

Most user names on Itch are not company names, nor real person names. Even if they sell a game and are successful. Some are named after their official legal publishing handle, if they have one. Or have at least some part of it in their account name or display name. 

You can choose any name that isn't already trademarked in your country. You don't need to register as a business in most countries. Legally in my country I am a sole proprietor under my real name trading as Evolutionary Casual Games.  I know of another company that started using a similar name that's into software. So far, it hasn't mattered. 

If your games become popular you can look at trade marking it. What does help is that search engines / social media allocate names on the first-come first-served basis. 

Where I see a problem with your name is that people may forget there's a z at the end, and search for nice games. They're unlikely to find you because that term is too generic. You'd have to emphasise the Z somehow, like nicegamesZ.