EA Asks Fans To Stop Keeping Old Battlefield Games Alive

[benjipwns]

https://kotaku.com/ea-asks-fans-to-stop-keeping-old-battlefield-games-aliv-1819890602

The Revive team, a group of Battlefield devotees who have worked hard for over three years to let fans keep playing older games in the series (like 2142 and Battlefield 2), have been asked by Electronic Arts to “stop distributing and using their intellectual property”.

“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”, a notice reads on Revive’s site. “As diehard fans of the franchise, we will respect these stipulations.”

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

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 and 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.

[thisismyusername]

Oh wow, I didn't know they brought Heroes back. I know they did like 2142 back in May. But the netcode was a bit laggy/bad to where I didn't keep playing.

If they go down completely: Fuck EA. They did the legwork in getting the game back online and the game isn't sold anymore, so what the fuck do they expect folks that may/may not want to play the game to do?

I mean, shit, I have BF2 on Steam/Origin and BF2142 on Origin and have to jump through hoops to get those to work with Revive as it is.

[benjipwns]

It seems like they should be able to work something out like "UNAUTHORIZED" and really emphasizing it.

Who is going to confuse BF2 with them at this point? Or not be someone who has had BF2 for ages, probably even already has BF4 or at least BF3, but wants to be able to play it without bots.

They don't even sell 2 and 2142 on Origin anymore or 1942 for that matter. You can't even buy new disc copies of 2 from Amazon. (A few affiliates have them.) Though you can still buy BF1942 from Amazon even though it's been deader longer.

[benjipwns]

2142 also has disc copies available from Amazon. (Though that game is amazingly unplayable with bots I noticed when I accidentally installed it on Origin and was like enh, wonder if this is how I remember.)

But not Vietnam! The only one they never put on Origin! FUCK EA WHOS WITH ME!!!!!! (Will buy BF1 if you stop this and give me Vietnam too. ) (Moves chrome window to this monitor and gets ready to launch TF2 for happy hour.)

I wonder if I have discs for Vietnam, I know I have 2 still because I rebought it for $10 on DVD for a key when they announced they were giving away all the expansions in that one patch.

My favorite part about Vietnam was how they designed all those mechanics around hiding in the grass, but if you passed your cursor over someone it showed their name. Dumb fuckery.

[H.I.V.E.]

Same as with fifa 14 or whatever they removed. Games don't have loot boxes. Please play games with them and open the loot boxes ok we put in a lot of work into them awesome loots and the least you can do is spend a thousand fucking gamers.

[thisismyusername]

You can't even play Titan mode offline in 2142, so it's like "what's the point?"

EA isn't doing themselves any favors with shutting them down. I get saying "yo, don't use battlelog.co" (even though hardly anyone uses battlelog.com/BF3 since people dropped it!) and stuff, but the games are dead/buried in EA's eyes, so I don't see what the harm is in "pirating" them and playing them on unofficial (and legworked) servers?

I'm guessing we're gonna get BF2/2142 "HD" or something released by EA soon if they're C&D'ing folks?

[benjipwns]

Yeah but these are long dead games they haven't sold in years and it's EA telling outsiders not to prop them up anymore. The FIFA thing was just a removal from their "vault" where they stick everything they aren't making money off anymore. And I imagine that had to do with the licenses as much as anything. It's also been removed from the store, but that could have happened earlier for all I know.

(Like I own almost everything in the "Vault" because of that error a few years ago where almost every game was free for a few hours. Also all the games which have CD-Keys you can activate.)

[benjipwns]

You can't even play Titan mode offline in 2142, so it's like "what's the point?"

oh yeah, i forgot that's why i was like "well this isn't even worth leaving installed even though it's only 1.5GB"

the one thing that makes the game more than a shoddy 2 mod

I'm guessing we're gonna get BF2/2142 "HD" or something released by EA soon if they're C&D'ing folks?

Maybe they think with BF1 that people will think 2 is a new game.

Or maybe they'll release a new BF2 that's World War II.

They didn't have any problems releasing two new Battlefront games with the same exact titles as the prior games instead of coming up with something new.

[Corporal]

Eh, sounds pretty straightforward. Time to make everything a binary/delta patch, vet the entire site and all content in those patches for EA owned stuff... pshaw, I could do that over a weekend. While drunk. Using only notepad. Why, back in my days I used edlin to write a driver in basic.

What can you do, really.
Big companies and IP stuff is a toxic combination, so these fans should have been on their toes from the get go. EA or not, fan projects like these always tread a fine line. Apparently they even dared to distribute the old binaries/installers? That's gotta be a no go. Provide hashes, leave distribution to the community. Why open yourself up to this exact scenario. All that work and love, down the drain.

[thisismyusername]

They were distributing it because it's basically "abandonware" at this point. EA isn't selling it, the game servers are all offline (fans redid the work to make it online playable). Essentially it was basically "EA washed their hands of it" until EA went "oh, yeah, some of you are playing that huh? Fuck you." and C&D'd it.

[chronovore]

 I think the nerdy and cordial tone of the mail is admirably respect full, but I am very sad that EA finds it necessary to shut down this service, all the while not providing a similar service for games people purchased. Why not benefit  from the fans effort to provide a free service, especially if it can be clearly identified as not associated with EA as a publisher?

[headwalk]

good to see Ted Danson has fallen on his feet after his lifechanging GAF ban and got a job copywriting for EA's legal team.

[Corporal]

They were distributing it because it's basically "abandonware" at this point. EA isn't selling it, the game servers are all offline (fans redid the work to make it online playable). Essentially it was basically "EA washed their hands of it" until EA went "oh, yeah, some of you are playing that huh? Fuck you." and C&D'd it.

As if a company and the law would give a wet fart about notions like abandonware. Especially EA, who made a business model of artificially and reliably destroying the value of the games they release.

The guys behind the fan patch were stupid, plain and simple. You can create keep-alive projects, and it's a very commendable undertaking for sure, but painting a gargantuan target on your back and practically begging for the company in question to come and bend you over a barrel is the opposite of smart (cordial wording or not, the implied threat in that letter is tangible).

They should have created a patcher and never reused any assets from EA. That is the sensible option for fucking around with the IP of other people. Leave the gray areas of the undertaking to the community in internet fora like reddit/4chan/etc. - heck, even mentioning the franchises and company more often than strictly required would be a bad idea. "They made claims in our name" "devalued our brand" "made it seem like this project was supported by or affiliated to (company)" and so on, there's plenty of wriggle room for a company to at least threaten to pull the guys in front of a judge, and who in their right mind would want to hire a lawyer for their own fan project. That only spells misery, even if the case gets thrown out.

[Aeptia]

Wow, I feel bad for buying FIFA 18.

Literally shaking rn.

[thisismyusername]

Oh, I don't disagree that distrubting it was problematic. But at the same time, EA wasn't selling it it wasn't online anymore. At that point nobody besides owners could play it. So might as well let people "pirate" it if that's how they wanted to play a game that was no longer being sold.

I do disagree with you on them not being able to modify it to play online again. This was back in the era where they were given server hosting software. There was nothing propetary there (besides the code) that EA really needed to protect. The only modification they did was change the server hosting/finding software from Gamespy to their own servers. EA could do this very thing themselves, but simply won't because they want folks on the newer titles.

[Cravis]

“Because FUCK YOU give ME money”

[thisismyusername]

I'm wondering if it's possible for them to make an unofficial patch that enables "connect" in the console (if it already wasn't done) to direct connect to server I.P. addresses. Just as a fuck you to EA, since the server software is out there and available on the internet by DICE themselves.

[Corporal]

Oh, I don't disagree that distrubting it was problematic. But at the same time, EA wasn't selling it it wasn't online anymore. At that point nobody besides owners could play it. So might as well let people "pirate" it if that's how they wanted to play a game that was no longer being sold.

I do disagree with you on them not being able to modify it to play online again. This was back in the era where they were given server hosting software. There was nothing propetary there (besides the code) that EA really needed to protect. The only modification they did was change the server hosting/finding software from Gamespy to their own servers. EA could do this very thing themselves, but simply won't because they want folks on the newer titles.

I think we are on the same page but kinda talking past each other.

What I'm saying is, creating a patch that looks for an installed version of the client or server and fiddles with that is awesome. It's also completely legal, even if the EULA will make it seem otherwise. Nothing companies can do about that. I'm all for fans to keep games alive well beyond their often short shelf life has ended. Heck, they have my respect for their dedication.

What I'm saying is, if you're going to piss off a company, you better have a clean vest. EA and other big guys will naturally go after anyone that even remotely inconveniences them. Often for seemingly inconsequential stuff.

Using assets owned by them, such as art, iconography, trademarks -or anything else- is not a good idea. In general, really. Unless you have written permission. Hosting their server or client binaries is lunacy. Anything beyond a patcher, like a customised installer or reusing their assets by baking them into your released stuff is just begging for a C&D. If you need an asset, locate it in the installed game folder or prompt the user for it and leave it to the community to distribute it for you.

Ayone who wishes to play the game either has an installer already or will have a friend or internet acquaintance that can hook them up. Sure, a bunch of people with only a passing interest will not go to the pains of typing "download _____ game client" into google or visiting a fan forum and reading a stickied post with the download links, but frankly, fuck those lazy guys.

[thisismyusername]

The thing is: With this C&D, they took the software down. There's no ability to connect to the "Revive Network"/BF2 servers anymore. IDK, I haven't checked to see if direct connect is possible, but the client gives the ability to patch the game.

Actually, for shits and giggles (since I already had the games installed) I just checked and there's still BF2142 servers up. People still playing. Not as many as a year ago, but so long as the files and ability to use the client as a patcher (and I'm not sure on that as I had to make a "revive network" account a long time ago, not sure if that'll be a problem for others)  is available from folks around the internet in hush-hush tones, there's nothing EA can really do to shut it down, per se other than take Revive to court. Which I highly doubt they'd do just because people sirked their C&D and still had the files.