Back in 2014, GameSpy shut down their online services for good. This affected far more games than you may have realized, including Battlefield 2, Battlefield 2142, and Battlefield Heroes. Without it you really cannot play these games online easily.
That's a bit of a thing really, being pretty much multiplayer only. Since then, some user created mods popped up that aimed to replace the now-defunct GameSpy. One of these mods was called Revive Network, reports totalgaming network:
Revive Network allowed those Battlefield owners to play online with random players in addition to the friends and communities they formed over the years. That sounds pretty great in the absence of any official replacement from EA.
Oh, but here's the catch with this. Revive Network also allowed anybody to download the Battlefield game clients, regardless of if you actually purchased any of these games back in the day. Yeah, that's probably not a good thing to do without permission, even if the games are effectively dead and no longer being sold.
The team at Revive Network were sent a legal notice by EA's lawyers. Below is the notice as it appears currently on the Revive Network website (including redactions).
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. Its 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.---Hello everyone,
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 contacts revive network to stop distributing old battlefield IP
