So I recently got in the iOS dev program as an individual. The “seller” is my name and it is © my name. Then it asks:
“What is the company or developer name that you want displayed on the App Store for all of your applications?”
Which on iTunes is AppStore > Games > (right here)
I want to use an original name I thought of (BloodGreen Studio) and I wasnt sure of any legal factors of using a name.
Do I need to get a DBA or other formal declaration?
Should I use this name for anything else like banking/tax/website? (i think no, no, yes)
Any legal trouble that might happen? (Better safe…)
Thanks for any help
The company name is your trading name. This can be the software developer name ie BloodGreen Studios. It isn’t legally binding as far as I’m aware - PROVIDING you registered with apple as an individual.
Then when you game goes on sale, you’ll see BloodGreen Studio, plus your real name under it.
No, it’s just a handle if you registered as an individual.
Yes for your own websites and games, NO for banking. You won’t get paid (unless of course you actually have a business or registered company as BloodGreen Studio 
Absolutely none because apple doesn’t care about that field. It is only used to categorize your game (All games will come under that, that you publish with this account).
This is only if you’re individual. If you’re a company then you need to ensure its all legally binding and so forth. You can change it later but it takes several months and lots of faxed forms
In most states, if you are simply going for a sole proprietorship, then no DBA or even a business license is needed. Keep in mind, however, that without a DBA, your company’s name is not binded to you legally since no trademark is registered.
If your company ever gets to the point where you would need employees, then you would need to change the legal form of ownership to something else, such as an LLC or Corporation. I am not sure if it is the same for ever state, but changing the form of ownership for a company is a very annoying task for the state of WV (where I reside).
At any rate, there is no harm in mkaing up a company name to put in that slot.
Yes im an Individual when I registered.
Thanks a lot guys for the help, that makes more sense now. I am new to this. 
Do some trademark searches to make sure you are not infringing a registered name. It will probably take some time and effort to get the name changed, which would be stressful if you are under threat of legal action, plus having to restart your visibility with a new name.
There are online databases of trademarks, so it is not too difficult.
Heya,
I am not sure about the ‘individual’ part of this, but I can answer a bit about the company part. Apple will not accept a company name unless you have authoritative proof such as an official document from your state that your company is yours. Furthermore, they will NOT accept a company name that is a DBA. It has to be the actual, original name.
To your question specifically, if you are ever planning to make it a real company, then you want to create an LLC. The only upside to sole-proprietorship is the simplicity. But, it has a lot of drawbacks. You have no legal safety whatsoever. Further, if/when you do become successful/larger, you cannot switch the company from a sole-proprietorship over to an LLC. You must make a completely new company and sell all of its assets, etc. Most owners of game companies that I have talked to wished that they had started as an LLC instead of a sole-proprietorship and eventually had to go through all the fuss to make that happen.
On the other hand, if you have no plans whatsoever to be successful or long-term and simply desire to get a few apps out there into the universe and see what happens, then a sole is probably fine. If you end up making a moderately successful game (and certainly if you make a very popular game), then the sole-proprietorship may come back to bite you.
Gigiwoo.
Exactly what Gigiwoo said. In addition, the bank account used for transfers of your profits must be in the same name as the developer account (at least that’s how it was in '09). You must provide the same credentials when opening said account, and most business accounts tend to not be free. Personally, my plan was to keep it personal and open a new LLC or S-Corp in the event it takes off, but even that proved unnecessary. I recently found out from my tax man that you can still use a Schedule C to deduct business expenses even without a business license or corporation. 