You know looking it over again I guess my brain corrected a few things to make it more intelligable. I assumed archive meant the internet archive, corrected "how" to "now", and assumed they were talking about Warner Brother's IP rights. I can see how you were confused, but maybe don't phrase it like that next time lol.
I agree losing the openess was a shame, but I really enjoyed the story and updated gameplay in 2. I haven't played 3, but it's my understanding that it's more open than 2 again?
Someone managed to install Firefox from 2008 on a modern system using Nix. Crazy cool: https://blinry.org/nix-time-travel/