I don't think you can actually play them for free yet
Actually, you can play for free C&C, Red Alert and, iirc, Tiberian Sun. EA released them all for free some years ago so you can find their ISOS anywhere legally
this post was submitted on 28 Feb 2025
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This is a step in a good direction. Retired IP should either be released for free or open sourced altogether
To make things extra confusing I think this is explicitly the code for the games but not the IP. As in the assets, art, etc. are not free, and you can't just make your own game and call it Command & Conquer.
Yeah, it’s essentially just allowing people to substitute their own assets and build their own new games using the existing codebase. Like imagine if anyone could just use the StarCraft engine to make new RTS games. It means RTS games would be much easier for casual makers to work on.
It also means modders can directly access the code, to make custom mods that work directly with the game. Historically, unless a game has built-in mod support, modding is just a sort of “bolted on” addition. Because without having the source code, it’s really difficult to know why your mod that changes some seemingly small thing is breaking the entire game. But if you can see why it’s breaking things, you can devise ways to work around it.
Then it will help OpenSAGE immensely. Also it helps to preserve at least part of the game. I'd rather have the retired IP officially retired like this rather than leaving it in a limbo/grey area. Like, sure maybe the owner doesn't pay attention, but when they do pay attention, you can get Nintendo'd anytime. But this one is pretty explicitly open sourced/retired. I also see not just the RTS but Renegade as well. The less known FPS of C&C.
Yeah, the disclaimer means the source code is 100% free, which will enable community patches and mods, but the art, music, etc is all still under copyright and not GPL or any other open licenses. That said, the freeware versions EA released some time ago are available on Cncnet. Don't click the big download and play free, that button is the multilayer only, click the one under it and pick full game. You can also select other games available on the sidebar.