Copyright, you have to provide all the copyrighted material yourself so that they can't be sued for distributing it.

Man, what a waste of resources. It'd be funny if the client side just did a hash of the "uploaded" files, told the server the hash, and then the server can compare the hash and use the server copy of the assets, to save bandwidth. But as "What colour are your bits" (1) say, that'd still probably not be legal.

Oops, it's a browser based game, you still need the assets on the client side, i.e. in your local memory... never mind

(1) https://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/entry/23

yeah, bit of a buzzkill. What's the point of being able to launch from a web browser if you've gotta go dig up the game anyways?

Now you can run it on more platforms.

The point is they don’t get sued for distributing game assets they don’t own.

If they could distribute them, they would.

But what is the point of the project?

It patches the game with a modernized UX, implements a new client-server multiplayer networking model, allows you to play the game on systems which don't support it like macOS, and adds better support for modding. Overall it just updates the experience to meet modern gaming expectations.

They have a whole section of their website where they list the features. https://chronodivide.com/#features

Point taken, but there is an answer to your questions. Cross platform compatibility

It's a copyright thing

They really should've added the demo files.

still copyrighted

I doubt you would run afoul of the law by freely distributing something intended for free distribution

I think you should reread the license so you don’t inadvertently run foul of its distribution clause

Is it a risk worth taking though? It is EA games.

Yes, because they don't own the assets.