Relevant parts:
Last year, Andy reported on the return of Battlefield 2142 via its fan-made Revive project. Electronic Arts has now stepped in, telling the mod’s creators—who also oversee Battlefield Heroes and Battlefield 2 revival projects—to “please stop distributing copies of our game clients and using our trademarks, logos, and artwork on your sites.”
That’s essentially it. The Revive team seems to have folded quickly with this message everywhere on their website:
We will get right to the point: Electronic Arts Inc.’ legal team has contacted us and nicely asked us to stop distributing and using their intellectual property. As diehard fans of the franchise, we will respect these stipulations.
Over the past 3 and a half years, Revive Network has filled a void in nearly 1 million players’ hearts by bringing favorite titles back to life after online services were closed after the GameSpy shutdown. Only a few months ago, we took on the task of bringing multiplayer services online for a fan-favorite, Battlefield Heroes. The public reception for our efforts on this title were massive, and we never expected it to become as big as it was.
At this time, file downloads will be disabled.
This is probably the part where we have to say good bye. Before we leave the battlefield, we would like to thank all of the developers, artists, moderators, and last but not least every single player that helped make all of this a reality. Without you, it would not have become such a great time.
Signing off,
- The Revive Network Team
To me, it sounds like they got cold feet when they were contacted by a legal team.
Note the wording here. https://reviveheroes.com/notice.txt
Dear [REDACTED],
I write on behalf of Electronic Arts Inc. and its development studio DICE or, in other words, ‘those guys that make Battlefield.’
We’ve noticed that Revive Network has several projects and websites devoted to being a Medic by ‘reviving’ older Battlefield games, including Battlefield Heroes, Battlefield 2, and Battlefield 2142. It’s great to see your enthusiasm for these titles. Not to brag, but we too get the nostalgia chills when booting up these classic entries in the Battlefield franchise.
We need a favor though: we must ask that you stop throwing down Ammo Crates. In other, more legal-styled terms, please stop distributing copies of our game clients and using our trademarks, logos, and artwork on your sites. Thing is, your websites may easily mislead visitors to believe that you are associated or affiliated with EA we’re the only ones that get to wear the Official EA dog tag. Since you’re Battlefield community members, we know that you are smart and helpful, and will respect that we must protect our intellectual property rights in the franchise.
Please drop us a line to let us know you’re on board with this. Should you have any questions regarding all this, please do not hesitate to contact me via e-mail at [REDACTED]@ea.com.
Thanks,
[REDACTED]
IP Counsel
Electronic Arts Inc.
So, they specified the game client, and the art assets. But that’s it.
There’s a simple workaround then. Produce a program that modifies peoples’ clients. Rather than distributing modified clients, you distribute something that modifies clients. It being up to the players for getting the clients to begin with.
Seems pretty simple to me, but I guess Revive wasn’t interested in alternatives and would rather give up.
Sad times.
