Contrary to its usual image as a company open to fan games and mods, Valve has taken down two well-known community projects.
Both Portal 64, a demake to port the original Portal to the N64, and Team Fortress: Source 2, an effort to “recreate a new [Team Fortress] experience” in the Source 2 engine, were targeted by Valve.
On 10th January, the creators of each project released statements confirming the end of development and that each will no longer be available to download.
Portal 64 developer James Lambert released First Slice, containing the first 13 test chambers from the game, on 29th December. But on 10th January, he took the project offline. On Patreon (via Time Extension), Lambert revealed Valve had reached out and asked him to take the project down, a request he decided to comply with. Lambert stated the reason why Valve wanted him to stop development on Portal 64 was its dependence on “Nintendo’s proprietary libraries”.
Also on 10th January, developer group Amper Software updated its followers on the status of Team Fortress: Source 2, which it had already internally decided to move on from. Valve served a DMCA takedown to the project on GitHub, requesting the platform remove it due to IP infringement. “The [Team Fortress 2] assets have been ported to Source 2 without permission and are being redistributed by Amber Software,” Valve said in its DMCA notice. “The unauthorised porting and redistributing of Valve’s assets without a license violates Valve’s IP,” it added.
This is quite the contrast to Valve’s treatment of Portal: Revolution, the Portal 2 community-made mod which released last week through Steam. The mod was subject to a review process by Valve, which temporarily delayed its release, so it clearly got the all-clear from the company.
It’s believed Valve is hoping to avoid any potential conflicts with Nintendo on Portal 64, as was the case with GameCube and Wii emulator Dolphin’s planned release on Steam last year.
Laura Adams is a tech enthusiast residing in the UK. Her articles cover the latest technological innovations, from AI to consumer gadgets, providing readers with a glimpse into the future of technology.
