Project Eagle Is Staying. Here's Why.
Project Eagle Is Staying. Here's Why.
A clear record of how this started, the asset removal demands that followed, the pressure on the team, and why PE is responding now.
Why we are speaking now
Project Eagle stayed silent for months because we did not want to turn private disagreements into a public fight, expose individuals, or ask the community to choose sides.
We kept working and tried to resolve concerns privately, even after repeated attempts to damage the project's reputation. That silence did not end the situation. Private chats were leaked, isolated messages were shared without context, PE members were pressured to leave, and threats of further exposure continued.
A blanket demand has now been made to remove major parts of the mod. We are publishing this one record so the community can understand why PE is responding now.
Evidence: why we are responding
Threats, pressure, recording, and repeated personal attacks.
EXHIBIT 1 Statement about shutting down the entire project
EXHIBIT 2 Warning directed at PE leadership about releasing screenshots
EXHIBIT 3 Promise to keep pressuring the team and warning of consequences
EXHIBIT 4 Statements that the conversation had been screen-recorded
EXHIBIT 5 Personal attacks and calls for the project to be shut down
EXHIBIT 6 Statement that the pressure would continue
How this started: the demand that PE disband
This did not begin with a complaint about assets. It began with discussions presented as possible cooperation between teams, which we welcomed. The proposal then became dependent on Project Eagle disbanding, including a request that the separate project not be revealed while PE disappeared.
We refused. Two projects with a similar scope can coexist, and there was no reason for PE to be dismantled so another project could move forward.
Everything that followed, including the asset accusations set out below, came after that refusal.
Evidence: the proposal to disband PE
Cooperation talks that became conditional on Project Eagle disappearing.
EXHIBIT 1 Message indicating participation in the other development server
EXHIBIT 2 Invitation for developers to apply to another team
EXHIBIT 3 Expressed preference that Project Eagle disband
EXHIBIT 4 Terms requiring PE to disband without revealing the planned reboot
EXHIBIT 5 Statement about continuing the new project in secret
Why the separate project matters
The existence of another mod is not the issue. Anyone is free to start a project. The relevant context is that demands for PE to disband and remove major parts of its work were being made while a separate project with a similar scope was being organized privately.
Evidence: the separate project
A project with a similar scope being organized privately during the same period.
EXHIBIT 1 Private development server showing active progress
EXHIBIT 2 Map-development channel list
What the asset dispute is actually about
Once we refused to disband, the asset accusations began. This is the order events happened in, and it matters: there was no "stolen assets" complaint until PE declined to disappear.
Project Eagle has not secretly taken assets and passed them off as its own. Work currently included in the mod was contributed during development, integrated openly, and credited on the Project Eagle website.
What followed our refusal was a sudden demand to remove all work associated with certain former developers, including work already built into PE and already credited. This was not a claim about one newly discovered hidden or uncredited file. It was a demand to remove everything connected to them.
We offered a clear boundary: PE would not use future work made by those former contributors after they left. That was rejected, and the demand remained that earlier contributions also be removed.
The scale of the demand was not proportionate to any crediting problem. Complying would have stripped out entire regions of the map and left large parts of the mod broken or unplayable. That was the point. With Project Eagle gutted or made obsolete, a competing project with the same scope would have had the field to itself.
Leaving a team does not erase authorship, and contributors will continue to receive credit. But work knowingly contributed to PE does not become "stolen" because a later blanket removal demand is refused. We will consider claims that are genuine and made in good faith. We will not act on demands whose purpose is to sabotage the project.
Evidence: the removal demands
Blanket asset-removal demands made after we refused to disband, covering work already integrated and credited.
EXHIBIT 1 Specific removal requests sent for previously contributed areas
EXHIBIT 2 Demanding in dms constantly for all work to be removed
EXHIBIT 3 Rejection of PE objections to removing an entire map
EXHIBIT 4 PE offers not to use future assets while rejecting removal of integrated work
EXHIBIT 5 Response demanding all content be removed or there would be no peace
Pressure on PE developers and leaked chats
During this period, PE members were contacted and urged to leave, choose the "right side," or distance themselves from the project. Key developers were repeatedly approached. Everyone is free to work wherever they choose; the issue is the sustained pressure surrounding those decisions and its connection to calls for PE to disband.
Private jokes, comments, and internal discussions were also collected and later used in public cancellation posts. One exchange acknowledges that screenshots were being taken out of context. Isolated comments pulled from private conversations are not proof of asset theft or of a plan to steal future work.
Evidence: messages sent to PE members
Pressure placed on Project Eagle developers and leads.
EXHIBIT 1 Telling a PE member that they chose the wrong side
EXHIBIT 2 Request to tell PE development management to leave
EXHIBIT 3 Pressure directed at a PE lead to leave the community
EXHIBIT 4 Repeated pings aimed at forcing a response
EXHIBIT 5 Acknowledgment that posted messages were taken out of context
Harassment, threats, and public accusations
For months, PE leads and developers have faced insults, targeted memes, repeated pings, and personal attacks. Messages referenced recording conversations, shutting down the project, and making leadership "sorry" if screenshots were released.
We did not answer earlier cancellation posts because we wanted to avoid an endless cycle of leaks, counter-leaks, and community fighting. Our silence was not an admission. The continued pressure and the new removal demand made one clear public response necessary.
Evidence: harassment and threats
Examples of personal attacks directed at Project Eagle members.
EXHIBIT 1 Call for a PE lead to be banned, with a slur
EXHIBIT 2 Sexually demeaning insult aimed at a PE member
EXHIBIT 3 The same slur repeated at a PE member
We tried to resolve this privately
We explained that removing assets already integrated into the mod would damage PE and the work of the wider team. We proposed not using future assets from former contributors and allowing both projects to continue separately.
That was refused. The response remained that all prior content had to be removed, with some messages describing the terms as non-negotiable or tying them to "peace."
We will review concerns that are genuine and raised in good faith. We will not accept a broad demand to dismantle existing work when its practical effect would be to damage the project.
Evidence: attempts to resolve the dispute
PE's attempts to discuss the dispute, and the responses received.
EXHIBIT 1 PE explains its Patreon is optional and nothing is paywalled, and is told it should not be modding if money is a motivation
EXHIBIT 2 PE restates that the work was a requested contribution, and is answered with taunts
EXHIBIT 3 Asked about the other project's own past Patreon, the reply is that it was years ago
What we will and will not do
Project Eagle will keep contributor credits current and correct any genuine crediting mistake that is clearly identified. We will review any concern that is raised in good faith and is genuinely about authorship or credit. We will not act on demands designed to damage or dismantle the project.
We will not publish retaliatory exposure posts, leak unrelated private conversations, or encourage anyone to attack another team. We also will not respond publicly to every selectively presented screenshot. Where a serious claim requires an answer, we will provide the relevant context and preserve the original record for neutral review.
The screenshots here have been cropped and resized for readability. Their contents have not been rewritten, and the original files are being retained.
Our final position
Project Eagle will not disband because another project has a similar goal. We will not comply with blanket or unnecessary demands whose practical effect would be to severely damage or dismantle the project.
We will consider real concerns raised in good faith. Public pressure, threats, selective leaks, and unsupported accusations are not a substitute for a genuine claim.
Project Eagle remains active. Development will continue, and contributors will continue to receive appropriate credit.
We ask everyone in the community not to harass anyone involved. Review the evidence, keep the discussion respectful, and let both projects stand on the quality of their work.
- Project Eagle Team