Ah bliss, the big corporation can seemingly do no wrong just as individuals seemingly cannot keep their mouths shut in regards to self-made fan games utilizing the intellectual property of said corporation.
Valve now joins the likes of Nintendo in regards to purging fan-made games based off their IP with DMCA takedowns as they’ve recently removed two noteworthy projects, those being Portal 64 and Team Fortress: Source 2.
This move is no doubt surprising to many, considering Valve’s alleged support for modders, however it’s about damn time the general populous wakes up to the fact that there isn’t a single corporate entity on the planet that actually cares about them.
The community project known as Team Fortress: Source 2 aimed to remake, enhance, iterate, and deliver a new Team Fortress experience using the vastly more advanced Source 2 engine while Portal 64 aimed to recreate the first Portal game for the Nintendo 64.
Valve has long since abandoned Team Fortress 2, with is due for an immense overhaul or rather an entirely new sequel entirely given how the game still manages a large enough dedicated community of players. While Valve focuses entirely on their golden gooses, Dota 2, which is dwindling by the day and the newly revitalized “Counter-Strike 2”, the community hoped to step up to the plate and provide a modernized rendition of TF2.
But obviously that goes against corporate policy, as it was announced that Valve had sideswiped the project with DMCA takedowns, effectively killing the project and any hope for a TF2 revival.
According to the DMCA letters, Team Fortress 2: Source included assets from Team Fortress 2 that were ported to Source 2 without permission. Additionally, these assets were being redistributed by Amper Software in a game mode for Facepunch’s S&box.
Amper Software could have avoided it by removing all the original assets from TF2, but even then I’m sure Valve would’ve just came up with another bullshit reason to shut it down anyway.
The second community project that Valve senselessly killed was Portal 64, as the name would suggest the fan-made game is basically a Nintendo 64 demake of Valve’s Portal franchise.
And like with many fan projects that seemingly spark into existence and just as quickly fade away, if you’re going to make something based upon the intellectural property of a corporate entity, it’s wise to simply shut the fuck up until your project is completed, simply because majority of these individuals rightfully demand monetary backing / support for their efforts.
Which is why so many of these fangames have been terminated over the years, people begin development on some illusive fangame built on the Unreal Engine or whatever else and then just as quickly hope that you’ll pledge to them on funding platforms such as Patreon, Portal 64 isn’t any different and it’s likely this is why it was hit with a DMCA takedown.
You can find an archived version of the Portal 64 ROM here.
Regarding the DMCA takedown for Portal 64, Valve states that the project was utilizing Nintendo’s proprietary libraries, which is a severe violation apparently, though considering how gutless Nintendo are when it comes to shutting down fan projects it’s understandable that the fat boy-lover, otherwise known as Gabe Newell would be afraid of Nintendo’s lawyers.
If you’re looking to recreate or demake a game based upon a well established franchise, you can either keep your goddamn mouth shut until you complete the project or you could try and be sensible by avoiding the usage of copyrighted / proprietary materials and resources inside of your projects, or rather commit to doing years of work for absolutely zero payment and avoid payment platforms as Patreon as these companies seemingly find immense issues with other individuals making a profit off their IP.
