A trademark filing has done what Neowiz’s marketing department hadn’t gotten around to yet: it named the sequel. On September 10, 2026, the South Korean studio filed a European Union trademark application for “Wonders of O,” and by September 14 the filing had surfaced online and rippled through gaming press, according to ComicBook.com. No trailer, no release date, no platform list. Just a name, sitting in a public database, doing the reveal Neowiz apparently wasn’t ready to make itself.
The Lies of P sequel title leak matters for reasons that go beyond one studio’s paperwork. It’s a case study in how modern game announcements actually happen now: not through polished showcases, but through intellectual-property offices, job listings, and earnings calls that reporters comb through months before a publisher wants the story told. Neowiz has not confirmed “Wonders of O” is the sequel’s name. Every outlet covering this, ComicBook.com included, frames it as a strong inference from circumstantial evidence rather than an official statement. That distinction is worth holding onto through the rest of this piece, because it shapes what can and can’t be said about where the Lies of P franchise goes next.
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What actually leaked, and what didn’t
Strip away the speculation and the confirmed facts are narrow. Neowiz’s development arm filed a trademark application with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) on September 10, 2026, for “Wonders of O,” registered specifically as downloadable video-game software, according to reporting from Gagadget and corroborated by Beebom. The filing surfaced publicly a few days later, and by September 14 it had been picked up widely enough that ComicBook.com ran it as a standalone story rather than a rumor roundup item.
What the trademark filing does not include is just as important. There’s no release window attached to it. There’s no platform list. There’s no story synopsis, no screenshot, no confirmation of who’s directing it beyond the studio credit. ComicBook.com’s own framing is blunt about it: the discovery is “exciting,” but it leaves readers no closer to knowing when the game will actually arrive. Gagadget’s coverage echoes that caution, noting explicitly that no platforms, release window, or story details have been confirmed by Neowiz at any point in this process.
So the honest summary is this: a name has leaked. A studio and publisher are attached. Beyond that, everything else circulating online, including the assumption that “Wonders of O” is definitely the final title rather than a placeholder or a decoy registration, is inference. Companies have filed trademarks for titles they later shelved before, and Neowiz would not be the first studio to register a name it never used publicly. That caveat rarely survives the headline-writing process, but it belongs in any serious read of the story.
Why a trademark filing, and not a trailer
Trademark leaks have become one of the most reliable ways gaming journalists get ahead of publisher announcements, and the mechanics explain why. Registering a trademark is a legal necessity that has to happen well before a public reveal, often a year or more out, because publishers need the protection in place before they start printing box art, running ad campaigns, or licensing merchandise. The EUIPO database, like the USPTO’s in the United States, is public by design. Anyone can search it. Reporters who cover a specific franchise closely tend to set up alerts or simply check periodically, and a distinctive, on-brand name like “Wonders of O” is exactly the kind of filing that gets noticed within hours of going live.
This isn’t a new phenomenon specific to Neowiz. Trademark and rating-board leaks have preceded official reveals for major franchises across the industry for years, often catching publishers mid-planning cycle. What makes the “Wonders of O” case notable is the timing relative to Neowiz’s own public statements about the sequel’s development stage. The studio has already confirmed, through its own investor-facing disclosures, that the game exists and is in active production. What it hasn’t done is put a name or a date to it. The trademark filing closes part of that gap without the studio’s input, which puts Neowiz in the position of either confirming, denying, or staying silent on a detail that’s already spreading as fact.
The Wizard of Oz connection, explained
“Wonders of O” isn’t a random string of words to anyone who finished the original Lies of P. The 2023 game’s final scene shows a pair of ruby slippers before the screen cuts to black, a direct visual nod to Dorothy Gale and The Wizard of Oz. That ending sequence has fueled sequel speculation since launch, and the leaked title lines up with it closely enough that most outlets treat the Oz connection as effectively confirmed, even while the title itself remains unofficial.
The expectation across coverage, including from ComicBook.com and corroborating reports, is that Neowiz will lean on L. Frank Baum’s original early-1900s novels rather than the 1939 MGM film for tone and setting. That’s a meaningful distinction for a studio built on this kind of reinterpretation. Lies of P took Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio and filtered it through a grim, Belle Époque-inspired Soulslike lens, trading a wooden puppet’s coming-of-age story for a body-horror action game about identity and free will. If Round8 Studio applies the same treatment to Baum’s Oz, with Dorothy recast as a protagonist navigating a far darker version of the land than the one Judy Garland sang her way through, that would track with how the studio has positioned itself: adapting public-domain children’s literature into something considerably less comforting.
None of that narrative framing is confirmed by Neowiz directly. It’s an inference built on the trademark name, the original game’s ending, and the studio’s established creative pattern. But it’s a strong enough inference that most outlets covering the story, including Beebom and Gagadget, present it as the most likely direction rather than one possibility among many.
Who’s actually building it: Round8 Studio and the NOUGH rebrand
The development credit for the Lies of P sequel goes to Nough Studio, the Neowiz internal development team formerly known as Round8 Studio, which built the original game; as of January 2026, Neowiz had confirmed Round8 Studio was fully focused on sequel development, though by May 2026 the company disclosed that two additional projects had joined the sequel in active development, splitting the studio’s bandwidth beyond just “Wonders of O.” Current reporting on the leak uses the Nough Studio name for the team, which points to an internal rebrand alongside the sequel’s production. Neowiz remains the publisher and parent company overseeing the release, and in August 2026 Round8’s Choi Ji-won publicly teased the project, according to Nintendo Life, marking one of the few direct acknowledgments to come from the studio itself ahead of the trademark leak.
That continuity matters for expectations. Round8 built its reputation on Lies of P specifically, a game that arrived in 2023 with relatively modest pre-release hype and then earned a reputation as one of the strongest Soulslike titles made outside of FromSoftware, according to framing used by outlets including Eurogamer in their broader coverage of the studio. A sequel from the same internal team, working with a larger budget and a proven engine pipeline, carries different expectations than a debut project. It also means whatever comes next inherits both the strengths of the original, its tight combat systems and distinctive art direction, and the pressure to avoid a sophomore stumble.
Development status: further along than the silence suggests
The absence of a trailer doesn’t mean the absence of progress. Neowiz’s own earnings disclosures, cited across multiple outlets covering the sequel’s production timeline, describe the project as having moved past the prototype stage; Neowiz confirmed in its May 2026 update that the sequel had reached the vertical-slice stage, and in that same disclosure said Round8 Studio had shifted the project fully into what the company calls full-scale development, still with no release window attached. In development terms, a vertical slice means the core gameplay loop, art direction, and technical pipeline are locked in well enough that the team can build out full levels and content against them, rather than still prototyping basic systems.
Reports also point to the sequel being built on Unreal Engine 5, an upgrade from the Unreal Engine 4 that powered the original Lies of P; Gagadget reported the engine switch in May 2026, around the same window in which the project moved into full-scale development. That’s consistent with a broader industry move toward UE5 among mid-size and large studios chasing better lighting, larger environments, and Nanite’s geometry handling, though it also raises the routine risk that comes with any engine jump: new tooling, new performance targets, and new ways for a small team to lose months to unfamiliar pipeline problems.
Platform expectations follow the original game’s footprint. ComicBook.com’s coverage frames PlayStation, Xbox, and PC as the presumed platform targets, based on where Lies of P and its expansion shipped, though it stresses this is an assumption drawn from precedent rather than a confirmed platform list. No release window has been disclosed, and Game Informer reported that as of 2026 Neowiz still had not announced any release window for the sequel, with outlets covering the story repeatedly noting that a 2026 or even 2027 release looks unlikely given the vertical-slice stage the game is reportedly at.
The AI Creator job listing controversy
One detail from the sequel’s development cycle has generated friction well beyond the usual leak-and-speculate news cycle. Round8 posted a job listing for an “AI Creator” role as the sequel entered full production, according to reporting from Gagadget. For a studio whose signature achievement was a handcrafted, meticulously art-directed world, that listing drew immediate criticism from parts of the fanbase who read it as a signal that generative AI tools might be involved in art or narrative production for the sequel.
The reaction reflects a tension playing out across game development broadly in 2026, not something unique to Round8. Studios are experimenting with AI-assisted pipelines for concept art, asset iteration, localization, and quality-assurance testing, often framing it as a productivity tool rather than a creative replacement. Players, particularly in genres like Soulslike action games where hand-tuned detail is part of the appeal, have been quick to treat any AI-adjacent hiring as a red flag regardless of the actual scope of the role. Neowiz has not detailed what the AI Creator position actually entails, which has left the controversy to run on inference in the same way the sequel’s title has.
The original Lies of P: why a sequel was inevitable
Understanding why Neowiz greenlit a sequel this fast requires looking back at what the original game did for a studio that, before 2023, wasn’t associated with high-end action combat. Lies of P launched in September 2023 into a genre dominated by FromSoftware, and rather than getting buried by the comparison, it earned praise specifically for standing up to it, crossing 3 million combined copies sold with its expansion by June 2025 and climbing to 4 million combined units by March 2026, according to Neowiz, a roughly 1 million-unit jump in under a year. The franchise’s reach widened again in August 2026, when Neowiz shipped a Nintendo Switch 2 version, bringing Lies of P to a new platform for the first time. Eurogamer’s coverage has described it as one of the most acclaimed Soulslike titles made outside FromSoftware, a distinction that matters in a genre where most challengers get dismissed as derivative within weeks of launch.
That reception translated into a full content expansion, Lies of P: Overture, which Round8 launched as a prequel expansion during Summer Game Fest, reaching Steam on June 6, 2025, extending the game’s story and combat systems rather than functioning as a minor DLC drop. Neowiz confirmed sequel plans back in 2023, shortly after the original’s launch, and the studio’s subsequent earnings reports have tracked the project’s move from early planning into the full-scale development phase it’s reportedly in now. The pattern, acclaimed debut, meaningful expansion, greenlit sequel within roughly two to three years, mirrors how other breakout Soulslike-adjacent franchises have scaled, though few have done it with a single internal studio carrying the entire pipeline.
How this leak compares to other recent trademark-driven reveals
The Wonders of O situation fits a pattern that’s become routine in gaming coverage over the past several years: publishers losing control of their own announcement timelines because intellectual-property filings are, by design, public. It’s the same mechanism that has outed sequel names, spin-offs, and remasters well ahead of their intended reveal windows across the industry, often forcing studios into either an early confirmation or an awkward extended silence.
What distinguishes the Neowiz case slightly is the specificity of the corroborating context. A trademark name alone is often ambiguous, studios register names for prototypes, internal projects, or defensive purposes that never ship. “Wonders of O” carries unusually strong contextual backing because it dovetails precisely with a plot thread the original game planted deliberately in its final seconds. That’s a lower-ambiguity leak than most trademark stories get, which is part of why it spread as quickly and confidently as it did across outlets including ComicBook.com, Push Square, Beebom, Gagadget, and Vice.
Market impact: what this means for Neowiz and the Soulslike genre
For Neowiz as a publicly traded company, sequel news, even unconfirmed, tends to function as a signal to investors and industry watchers that the studio’s flagship IP has a defined future rather than being a one-and-done hit. Neowiz’s own earnings disclosures already established that the sequel is in full-scale development, so the trademark leak doesn’t change the company’s underlying financial narrative. What it does is compress the marketing timeline. Once a name is public and circulating, the pressure to follow up with an official confirmation, and eventually a trailer, increases, because staying silent risks ceding the narrative to speculation and, in the AI Creator listing’s case, controversy.
For the broader Soulslike genre, a confirmed, well-funded sequel from a studio that already proved it can compete with FromSoftware-caliber design reinforces that the genre has room for more than one dominant developer. The original Lies of P mattered partly because it demonstrated a non-FromSoftware team could execute punishing, precision-based combat at a AAA-adjacent level. A sequel that expands on that foundation, particularly one moving to Unreal Engine 5 with a larger scope, raises the competitive bar for other studios chasing the same audience, from Team Ninja’s Wo Long and Nioh lineage to smaller independent Soulslike projects trying to carve out space in an increasingly crowded genre.
Lies of P original vs. reported sequel: what’s known
| Detail | Lies of P (2023) | Sequel (reported as “Wonders of O”) |
|---|---|---|
| Source material | Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio | L. Frank Baum’s Oz novels (inferred from ending and trademark) |
| Developer | Round8 Studio | Round8 Studio / NOUGH |
| Publisher | Neowiz | Neowiz |
| Engine | Unreal Engine 4 | Unreal Engine 5 (reported) |
| Title status | Confirmed at launch | Unconfirmed, leaked via EU trademark filing |
| Development stage | N/A (released) | Full-scale development, vertical slice reported |
| Platforms | PlayStation, Xbox, PC | Presumed PlayStation, Xbox, PC (unconfirmed) |
| Release window | September 2023 | Not announced |
Timeline of the Lies of P franchise and sequel leak
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| September 2023 | Lies of P launches; ending teases Dorothy and the ruby slippers |
| Late 2023 | Neowiz confirms a sequel is in the works |
| 2025 | Lies of P: Overture expansion releases |
| Early 2026 | Neowiz earnings report describes sequel moving past prototype stage |
| Mid-2026 | Sequel reported to reach “full-scale development” and vertical slice stage; AI Creator job listing surfaces and draws criticism |
| September 10, 2026 | Neowiz files EU trademark for “Wonders of O” |
| September 14, 2026 | Trademark filing surfaces publicly; ComicBook.com and other outlets report the leak |
Historical context: the Pinocchio-to-Oz creative leap
Lies of P’s core creative trick was taking a story everyone thinks they know and inverting its tone entirely. Pinocchio, in the popular imagination, is a Disney-adjacent children’s story about honesty and a talking cricket. Round8’s version stripped that away and rebuilt it as a mechanically demanding, visually grim action game about a puppet fighting to determine whether he’s capable of humanity at all. That approach worked because the gap between audience expectation and delivered tone was wide enough to feel genuinely surprising, and because the mechanical execution, tight parry timing, weapon customization, boss design, held up under scrutiny from a genre audience that doesn’t forgive sloppy combat systems just because the aesthetic is interesting.
Applying the same inversion to The Wizard of Oz is a logical next step, and arguably a riskier one. Oz is more culturally ubiquitous than Pinocchio in most English-speaking markets, largely because of the 1939 film’s enduring cultural footprint, which means audience expectations going in will be even more specific and even easier to subvert or disappoint. If reports about leaning on Baum’s novels rather than the film hold up, that gives Round8 more raw, weirder source material to draw from, Baum’s original Oz books include considerably darker and stranger elements than the MGM adaptation ever touched, but it also means the eventual reveal will have to do more work explaining its own premise to audiences who only know the film version.
Predictions: what comes next for Wonders of O
- An official confirmation is likely within weeks, not months. Once a trademark leak reaches the coverage volume this one has, publishers typically respond faster than their original marketing calendar intended, either to control the narrative or to capitalize on the free attention.
- A full reveal trailer probably won’t follow immediately. With the game reportedly still at a vertical slice stage, Neowiz has incentive to confirm the name without committing to a trailer that shows unfinished content, similar to how other studios have handled early trademark leaks in the past.
- Expect a 2027 or later release window once one is announced. The vertical slice stage typically precedes full production by a year or more in AAA-adjacent development, and a title moving to a new engine adds additional runway risk.
- The AI Creator controversy will resurface at every future update. Until Neowiz clarifies the scope of that role, expect fan and press scrutiny of AI tool usage to attach itself to every subsequent sequel announcement, screenshot, or gameplay reveal.
- Platform confirmation will likely mirror the original’s footprint. Barring an unusual strategic shift, PlayStation, Xbox, and PC remain the most probable targets, consistent with how Lies of P and its Overture expansion were distributed.
What Neowiz gains and risks by staying quiet
There’s a case for Neowiz simply letting the leak run its course without an immediate statement. Silence costs the company nothing financially in the short term, the trademark filing generated organic coverage across gaming outlets without a marketing spend, and the studio retains full control over when it wants to actually show gameplay. The risk is narrative drift: without an official statement, outlets and fan communities fill the gap with their own interpretation, and by the time Neowiz does confirm details, the story competing for attention may already feel stale or, worse, may have absorbed inaccurate assumptions that become difficult to correct later.
The AI Creator listing is the clearest example of why prolonged silence carries real cost. A single job posting, without context from the studio about what the role actually covers, has been enough to generate sustained criticism months before anyone outside Neowiz has seen a frame of gameplay. That’s the kind of reputational drag that compounds the longer it goes unaddressed, and it’s a more urgent problem for the studio to manage than the title leak itself.
Frequently asked questions
Is “Wonders of O” the official title of the Lies of P sequel?
Not officially. Neowiz filed a European trademark for “Wonders of O” on September 10, 2026, and outlets including ComicBook.com treat it as very likely the sequel’s title given the context, but the studio has not confirmed it directly.
Who is developing the Lies of P sequel?
Round8 Studio, the internal Neowiz development team behind the original Lies of P, is credited with the sequel. Some coverage references the team operating under the name NOUGH.
When will the Lies of P sequel release?
No release window has been announced. Neowiz has described the game as being in full-scale development and having reached a vertical slice stage, but has not given a target release year.
What platforms will the sequel launch on?
No platforms have been officially confirmed. Coverage of the leak presumes PlayStation, Xbox, and PC, consistent with where Lies of P and its Overture expansion shipped.
Why does the title suggest a Wizard of Oz connection?
Lies of P’s ending shows Dorothy’s ruby slippers before cutting to black, a direct reference to The Wizard of Oz. “Wonders of O” lines up closely with that tease, and reports suggest Neowiz will draw more from L. Frank Baum’s original novels than the 1939 film.
What is Lies of P: Overture?
Overture is a full expansion to the original Lies of P, released in 2025, extending the game’s story and combat systems following the original’s critical success.
What is the AI Creator controversy about?
Round8 posted a job listing for an “AI Creator” role during the sequel’s development, which drew criticism from fans concerned about generative AI being used in a franchise known for handcrafted art direction. Neowiz has not detailed the role’s exact scope.
What engine is the Lies of P sequel using?
Reports indicate the sequel is being built on Unreal Engine 5, an upgrade from Unreal Engine 4, which powered the original Lies of P.
