LucasFilm Uses Legal Force To Quash Star Wars Battlefront Knock-Off

Frontwire changes direction and abandons its use of Star Wars assets for its upcoming title Galaxy In Turmoil.

[Majin-vegeta]

In other news water is wet...

[ONESHOTV2]

wow what a waste if these big companies aren't making any money off a product they will try to sh--it all over it that's not cool if the modders are not selling the game then just leave them alone what are you gaining from canceling a free project like this.

[Gridknac]

It paints the company in a bad light. I mean if fans can take a old cancelled game and turn it something amazing that fans actually want for free, whats that say about the over priced, content gutted piece of shit their multi-billion dollar company put out? It said right in the article that Lucas film didn't care, it was EA.

[iceman06]

It probably has a lot to do with licensing. These "big companies" paid big money for the rights to use the Star Wars IP. No matter how good the fans do with mods or their own creations, it does set a bad precedent to allow them to just use assets that others would have to pay for. It cheapens the value of the IP as a licensing tool and revenue generator. Now, if anybody wanted to create a Star Wars game, and not pay, they can point to the modders and say "they didn't have to pay, why should we?" I would imagine that would be a difficult proposition to fight in a court of law. One gets access for free and the other (just because they can) has to pay.
Plus, that IP has been very protective about its use. Unfortunately, especially for a product like this, that's the business.

Edit: Doesn't matter that the modders are working for free because they are doing it with an IP that they don't technically have the right to. That could potentially hurt LucasFilm's ability to license in the future (as I explained above) I'm not saying that I don't think that LicasFilms couldn't show some leniency. I simply see that it is a bit more complicated than just letting fans use the IP for free. The IP has become one of the most lucrative ever and it didn't get that way by letting people have it for free...whether we like it or not.

@DeadlyFire...Not "young" by any stretch. I am aware of LucasFilms being lenient (as I mentioned in the edit) in the past. But, as videogames have become more lucrative, so has the potential for the Star Wars IP. I understand that EA would be upset because they dropped a pretty penny on the IP. That "grey area" that you speak of is really, at the end of the day, pretty much about that contention. How can you charge one and not the other...even IF one doesn't profit? What does that do (if anything) to the value of the IP? Once again, I don't necessarily support the idea of killing fan projects, but I understand how it might happen from the business side.

[ONESHOTV2]

iceman06--"It probably has a lot to do with licensing" i stop reading from there dude the modders are doing the work for free they are not reselling the game they remade so how is that hurting EA/ lucas art art in any way ? i know they have the rights to their property but isnt this going to the extreme for a fan made project that's not going to hurt their company in any way i guess it all comes down to money if they are not making any then the project can't go on. when i see devs do this i give them even less respect if they gave us what we asked for then there would not be a need for the modding community to step in and do their work.

[DeadlyFire]

Lol iceman Anyone could do a Star Wars game for free back in the day. You obviously are young. There is a big grey area with licensing ips and free projects. As long as there is no profit. Everything is in house created. Its a thin line. Lucasfilm has always been open to it and approved of alot of things. EA on the other hand doesn't support modding at all. So they will press legal as much as possible.

[Hoffmann]

In other news..the developers are clever and already announced that they are developing the game without the Star Wars license and characters but based on the concept of Battlefronts 3.

http://www.dsogaming.com/ne...

[NerveGearneeded]

sounded like EA is the bad guy again.

[DJ]

Why is this news?

[uth11]

because some people don't believe in copyrights and will get their panties in a bunch over it?

[47]

As they should. Sorry, these fans don't own the rights to Star Wars in video games. EA does. This was always going to be the outcome.

[Perjoss]

To those that are surprised by this kind of news, what exactly did you think was going to happen? EA paid a buttload of cash for the rights to use the Star Wars IP to make games, there was no way on hell these guys would get to release this thing, no matter if they charged money for it or not.