EA Wants A "Favor" - New Letter Asks To Stop Keeping Old Battlefield Games Alive

There is a group of dedicated Battlefield fans called 'The Revive Team' that have been vigilant [...]

By Liana 'LiLi' Ruppert

There is a group of dedicated Battlefield fans called 'The Revive Team' that have been vigilant about letting fans of the older Battlefield games continue to enjoy what they love. After three and a half years of doing just that, EA now asks a "favor" in a neatly polished Cease and Desist letter. As far as legal actions go, it's by far the politest - but they did go straight to the point when beseeching The Revive Team.

Fans became aware of this issue when Revive released an official notice 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"

The EA reach out:

The following letter from EA is the cease and desist notice given to the team about EA's intellectual property, citing that "we're the only ones that get to wear the "Official EA" dog tag":

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.

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Revive

Revive handled the situation well. EA has a full legal team and this franchise is their intellectual property. In one final tribute to their hard work keeping the Battlefield community alive, they did offer a little look into how strong the community was:

As a final tribute, here's some statistics that we've gathered.

    • Revive Accounts: 939,508
    • Total Heroes: 174,876
    • Royals: 79,699
    • Nationals: 95,177
    • Commandos: 60,316
    • Soldiers: 62,246
    • Gunners: 52,314

For now, The Revive Team is moving on to slightly blockier things: Minecraft!

(via Kotaku)

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