SimCity 2000 remake removed by EA for using copyrighted assets

Electronic Arts filed a DMCA takedown request against the fan-created version of Sim City 2000, titled OpenSC2K, after pointing out the developer behind the remake used stolen art assets without permission.

As reported by TorrentFreak, OpenSC2K was posted to GitHub earlier this year under the guise that the project was free and "open source", but the 2D sprites featured in the remake were actually ripped directly from the original Sim City 2000. 

OpenSC2K was a version of the 1993 city builder developed on a new framework by Nicholas Ochoa but it wasn't a complete overhaul of the original game, since it included original artwork belonging to EA, which Ochoa doesn't have the legal right to use.

Since issuing the takedown, OpenSC2K has been removed from GitHub, with EA stating that “assets from the game SimCity 2000 are being infringed upon,” making it clear that those assets weren't ever intended for public use.

The full DMCA notice has been posted on GitHub, and states that “the current audio visual output of the repository creates content that infringes on Electronic Arts copyright. As long as that continues to happen, no other changes other than removal is sufficient to address the infringement.”

However, Ochoa seems intent on removing the copyrighted assets from the rest of the code-- but it's unclear whether that will change EA's decision or not.

“I was never contacted by EA or GitHub prior to the takedown – I received notification after the fact from GitHub. Nobody from EA has reached out since and I’m still waiting for GitHub to review my request,” Ochoa tells TorrentFreak.

“My plan right now once the repo is restored is the remove the copyrighted content and provide instructions on how to extract the assets directly from the original game files.”