Given the amount of work that goes into replacing all content of the game, I wouldn't call it a "free ride" even if it did get to use the same code.

However as has been established, the gamecode is being redone based on non-GPL sources to ensure that nothing is "ripped off", even though this means the game may differ more significantly than intended, further fracturing the community of players.

The relicensing of the GPL gamecode for the game was intended to preserve the authenticity of the gameplay experience, not to harm anyone, but since a few of the contributors don't want to play ball, the ball goes elsewhere.

I only want to point out that in a recent analysis of the DarkPlaces engine source, 1.29% of lines that are not license headers or blank lines, have never been modified.

Put another way, the engine is no more than 2% Quake1 codebase, and a vast majority of the code was written by me, especially the platform independent core portions.

Tracking down contributors when there is one primary author of the entire codebase, who knows almost every line of it by memory, is not as hard as it sounds.

Very true words, especially with respect to the entertainment industry, and with positive and negative aspects.

The engine has been licensed as non-GPL for Sony Playstation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360, these are very closed platforms and the game had no chance of reaching them under GPL, publishers would not touch it.

IllFonic actively promotes the GPL Nexuiz for all operating systems.

The console game code is being started fresh now that GDC is over, no GPL claims can apply to it.

Note: Nexuiz 1.0 was to be a commercial game in the first place, but was GPLed for the enjoyment of everyone, this deal pertains to the name and concept, not the community enhancements that occurred after the original release.