Ubisoft deletes 'Goldeneye 007' remake in Far Cry 5 that was three years in the making

[Cal Jeffrey]

Editor's take: It always happens the same way every time. A fan of [insert IP here] creates a port or mod of said IP that is good enough to gin up media attention. Then the corporate lawyers swoop in and shut it down. Legal teams defend dead IPs that have not generated a dime of revenue in years as if the mods have stolen a great fortune.

Earlier this month, a Far Cry 5 modder who goes by Krollywood got some media attention for his meticulous recreation of every level from the 1997 Nintendo 64 game GoldenEye 007. It took him three years and over 1,400 hours to painstakingly reproduce all the maps using Far Cry 5's level editor and it shows because they look fantastic (below). The levels were playable via FC5's arcade mode. Unfortunately, 'were' is the operative word.

This week Far Cry publisher Ubisoft deleted the levels following a cease and desist from a "rights holder."

"In following the guidelines within the 'Terms of Use,' there were maps created within Far Cry 5 arcade that have been removed due to copyright infringement claims from a right [sic] holder received by Ubisoft and are currently unavailable," a Ubisoft representative told Kotaku. "We respect the intellectual property rights of others and expect our users to do the same. This matter is currently with the map's creator and the rights holder, and we have nothing further to share at this time."

As far as anyone knows, MGM is the original rights holder for the GoldenEye IP, but Ubisoft did not confirm who issued the C&D. Nintendo is another player with a stake in the game. Both Nintendo and MGM have been hawkish over their properties.

Regardless of where the copyright strike came from, we can't say we are surprised. Time and time again, we see fan-made remakes and recreations axed by corporate lawyers. Nintendo has chased numerous copyright challenges for various IPs over the years. MGM has put the kibosh on more than a couple of efforts to recreate GoldenEye, including the Unreal 4 remake GoldenEye 25 last year.

"I'm really sad—not because of myself or the work I put in the last three years, [but] because of the players who wanna play it or bought Far Cry just to play my levels," Krollywood told Kotaku. "In the beginning, I started this project just for me and my best friend, because we loved the original game so much, but there are many GoldenEye fans out there."

Krollywood says he doubts he'll try to bring the levels back because he’s “on their radar now.”

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/90202-ubisoft-deletes-goldeneye-007-remake-far-cry-5.html

 

[TheBigFatClown]

I don't get this story. It was deleted from where? Does anybody think it's really gone for good? I'm sure thousands downloaded it before the C&C occured. Need more details.

It's very hard to abolish something once it has spread on the Internet. At least I would think so.

 

[noel24]

Since Ubisoft recycles all of It's assets in every game, and It took a guy 1400 hours, which is not even a full year of full time job, now You know how much It costs to create an average Ubisoft game: One year of average skilled developer (around $100K), few hours of Their law firm time ($50million, I assume), and some marketing money, usually double the initial cost of developer and lawyers...

;-)

 

[tellmewhy]

The idea that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time is what allowed the humanity to evolve to the current advanced state. The idea of intellectual property is against that previous idea.

Someone made a game in 90s base on the hype which produced by a series of movies (007), someone else remake that game with different assets and graphic engine 30 years later. What's the problem? Is the brand of 007 weaker or stronger with the addition of that game?

The more people they think and talk about a brand the stronger it becomes.

That's the reason why they pay (sometimes more than the cost of production) to marketing.

 

[terzaerian]

I don't get this story. It was deleted from where? Does anybody think it's really gone for good? I'm sure thousands downloaded it before the C&C occured. Need more details.

It's very hard to abolish something once it has spread on the Internet. At least I would think so.

maps created within Far Cry 5 arcade

It sounds like this was made within an editor and upload infrastructure completely within Ubisoft's ecosystem so we can probably assume it's gone. Another cautionary tale on why modding needs to remain decentralized and not depend on the good graces of scumbag rightshoarders and cowardly publishers like Ubisoft and Bethesda.

 

[Shaitan]

It sounds like this was made within an editor and upload infrastructure completely within Ubisoft's ecosystem so we can probably assume it's gone. Another cautionary tale on why modding needs to remain decentralized and not depend on the good graces of scumbag rightshoarders and cowardly publishers like Ubisoft and Bethesda.

Oh course, a naive fool like me would have hoped to see something like a bold move from Ubisoft in hiring this guy. It won't happen though. The best chance we have of seeing 007 again is a remake with heavy MTX included and tons of DRM in it. One more reason for me to completely avoid Diablo IV, Warcraft III Reforged and any Cod/Battlefield crap.
Ubisoft may have asked the fans to pay for the rights to the game and make this guy rich at theb same time. 30 USD for this game would have provided more than enough probably.
But the suits in charge never see things from the gamer perspective anymore. Now you could never see DotA again, modding is dying and the only currently friendly to modders are the CDPR people.
So yeah, tough luck.
Never buying Activision, Blizzard or EA new games again for the reasons listed above...

 

[Lionvibez]

And the people that makes these never learn. Make it in secret release it to the internet and torrents and keep your mouth shut. Too late for a cease and desist letter.

 

[Cycloid Torus]

@Shaitan, Another fool agrees. I bet it would sell like hotcakes if it had a blue U stamp of approval.

 

[arrowflash]

And the people that makes these never learn. Make it in secret release it to the internet and torrents and keep your mouth shut. Too late for a cease and desist letter.

The media and the public also never learn, either. No one should give these people one iota of attention before they publicly release something.

 

[ron baer]

And this is why you release this type of stuff instead of teasing it. if it was released he would of still taken down the files but it would already be mirrored for those who are not scared

 

[Markoni35]

I guess the poor guy didn't have family connections like the inventor of PUBG. Otherwise Ubisoft would buy him and his creation and make him rich. And from what I saw, the 007 mod was actually properly made, professionally, unlike that PUBG crap.

The story of our society, good products flop, crap succeeds.

 

[Raunchy]

he would of still taken down the files

"Would of?" What's that supposed to mean?