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."
The Revive Network project came in the wake of Gamespy's 2014 closure, with the aim of making Battlefield 2142 et al playable online free-of-charge. EA had originally planned to make its older games playable at the time, however reversed this decision shortly after as a result of "significant technical hurdles". While not officially sanctioned, this decision appeared to justify the Revive Network's position.
The Revive Network team has however now posted the following statement:
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
EA's statement to the Revive Network Team can be read in full over here.
Thanks, DSO Gaming.
