Commodore fans were split earlier this month as an official document revealed the firm planned to prevent tinkerers from loading third-party firmware to the C64 Ultimate computer by locking down such upgrades to the FPGA. The iconic home computer brand has now backed down, reversing the decision but issuing a statement making it clear that users can enjoy “free experimentation, just no free support/replacement for bricked modded units.”

It is evident that the FPGA firmware gatekeeping decision had been a tricky one for the new Commodore. And telegraphing a change “preventing firmware not released by Commodore from being loaded onto the hardware,” split the user base, but we think most comments were on the side of user freedom. As social media and forum discussions heated up on the topic, Commodore published a detailed blog with a point–by-point defense of its new policy.

To be clear, the FPGA firmware flashing blocks were not rolled out yet. The 1.1.0 firmware release simply came with a statement that “A future update may introduce safeguards to help make sure incompatible firmware not released by Commodore does not damage your motherboard.” In the follow-up blog the seminal home computing firm highlighted that it had already seen non-functioning casualties of third-party firmware updates requiring support. This wasn’t sustainable, it reasoned. Servicing “hardware returns and replacements due to actions entirely out of our control” was a step beyond what Commodore was prepared to do.

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The new Commodore “values freedom of choice the most.”

The official blog post update from Commodore regarding firmware is pretty clear about the change in policy. “We will not prevent you from installing other firmware on your Commodore 64 Ultimate,” states a key highlighted phrase in the post.

It goes on to say it remains worried about users bricking their C64U machines and then putting in return and replacement requests (under warranty, we guess). However, it admits “that's 'Ultimately' an "us" problem, not a "you" problem.”

In the firmware block policy's place, there will instead be a stern disclaimer. Commodore will insist that “community-installed firmware, patches, or other modifications are used at the owner’s own risk, and Commodore cannot provide free support, free warranty service, or free replacement for units bricked or damaged as a result.” Most retro gaming community and tinkerer folks will probably be pleased with Commodore gracefully bowing to popular pressure on this. It will be interesting to see how the new policy affects the warranty returns process.

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Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.