EA Backs Off From Heavy DRM; Goes Old School

[Marcus Yam]

It’s been a week filled with PC gaming DRM with companies talking about fancy new systems that aim to make everyone happy.

EA Backs Off From Heavy DRM; Goes Old School : Read more

 

[rigaudio]

The power of the internet saves the day.

 

[LATTEH]

YES!!!

 

[kelbo]

It is very well known that DRM only makes it difficult for the authentic customer.

 

[megamanx00]

Guess they actually got alot of consumer complaints. Anyway the typical sims player isn't browsing the Pirate Bay as much as the FPS players, and they don't want to anger all the casual players who spend way to much on those games, so this move makes sense.

 

[AdamB5000]

I was frustrated with EA's approach with a Battlefield 2 expansion pack. I had to register with EA and register the product on the internet simply to play offline. I quickly entered a never-ending loop of receiving a 'you're already registered' message and then a 'please register' message. After extreme frustration I emailed EA's support. I was pleased to see a quick response and after a couple of email exchanges the person claimed I was good to go. However, I found myself so frustrated with the whole experience that I totally lost interest and to this day have not fired up the game.

So yeah - don't make it so hard to play a game I paid for.

 

[grimmone]

As someone on Kotaku said... PC gamers will show their appreciation by pirating the hell out of this

 

[curnel_D]

So far, I think Bethesda's trumps them all. Make games that kick so much ass that even if they're pirated a ton, they're still #1 blockbuster sellers for years to come.

 

[etrnl_frost]

[citation][nom]grimmone[/nom]As someone on Kotaku said... PC gamers will show their appreciation by pirating the hell out of this[/citation]
So unfortunately true. It's a lose lose situation for the industry.

 

[norbs]

I dunno I remember on a few instances I switched to hacked version of game i own just to avoid the annoying DRM.

 

[grimmone]

[citation][nom]kami3k[/nom]To anyone who thinks Sims getting pirated will hurt them, slap yourself real hard in the face.Spore was one of the most pirated games last year, yet it still sold what? Over 2 million copies? Probably a good amount more by now. Also you fail to realize this, people who pirate wouldn't have bought the game to begin with. So they lose little to no sales and in fact heavy DRM just makes it more likely to be pirated.[/citation]

Why do you think they're taking this "risky" move with the Sims? Of course it's going to sell amazingly well regardless. However, they can look back and say, "Okay, the Sims 3 sold great, but look at the number of pirated copies. We shouldn't avoid DRM on less popular titles because they wouldn't be able to survive the same backlash. This just goes to prove that DRM is necessary."

PC gamers are just as stupid as console gamers. The latter lacks brains, and the former lacks common sense.

 

[etrnl_frost]

[citation][nom]kami3k[/nom]To anyone who thinks Sims getting pirated will hurt them, slap yourself real hard in the face.Spore was one of the most pirated games last year, yet it still sold what? Over 2 million copies? Probably a good amount more by now. Also you fail to realize this, people who pirate wouldn't have bought the game to begin with. So they lose little to no sales and in fact heavy DRM just makes it more likely to be pirated.[/citation]
Please look up Koroush Ghazi's essay on piracy, courtesy of TweakGuides. Learn a little bit more about the economics of what Piracy really does, and the true point of DRM, and then think about it for a second. If we don't pay the people in the industry, the industry suffers. If the industry suffers, we suffer. Whether it be quantity, quality, or choice of medium, the user, ultimately, suffers - if the industry suffers.

It's a long read, but it's an incredibly good article, and it really makes some interesting points.

http://www.tweakguides.com/Piracy_1.html

 

[Grims]

Why even use a serial number? What's the point?

 

[lejay]

Sorry, Marcus Yam, I doubt EA is doing this because of your article.

 

[Guest]

The last 2 games i bought, retail legit copies. I had to download a pirated copy to actually play the game. They both refuse to run without the cracked exe, but run fine(with the retail dvd in the drive) with the cracked exe.

Its utterly retarded when you have to pirate a game you bought legally so you can use what you bought legally.

DRM can kiss my arse. It doesnt stop pirates, but it pisses the hell off of legal users, like me.

 

[seboj]

[citation][nom]kami3k[/nom]Also you fail to realize this, people who pirate wouldn't have bought the game to begin with. So they lose little to no sales and in fact heavy DRM just makes it more likely to be pirated.[/citation]

Finally, someone actually gets it. +1.

 

[Greatwalrus]

[citation][nom]AdamB5000[/nom]I was frustrated with EA's approach with a Battlefield 2 expansion pack. I had to register with EA and register the product on the internet simply to play offline. I quickly entered a never-ending loop of receiving a 'you're already registered' message and then a 'please register' message. After extreme frustration I emailed EA's support. I was pleased to see a quick response and after a couple of email exchanges the person claimed I was good to go. However, I found myself so frustrated with the whole experience that I totally lost interest and to this day have not fired up the game.So yeah - don't make it so hard to play a game I paid for.[/citation]


Interesting. I have the Battlefield 2 Expansion pack sitting on my shelf here, unopened. Now I'm not so sure that I want to open it

 

[Guest]

why is toms hardware so arrogant that they think EA is exclusively agreeing with the article they wrote earlier at some point...

total BS... my respect for tomshardware is going farther and farther down the drain

one more stupid or arrogant thing like this and i'm just gonna plain stop coming here... toms is a joke now

 

[NuclearShadow]

The Sims 3 will not doubt be a major seller and with out any DRM this will only prove that DRM is not only useless but is a waste of money to the developers/publishers as well as a unnecessary pain in the butt to us gamers.

 

[Guest]

How NICE of them

 

[flyboy27]

I am a newcomer to gaming who just purchased Medal of Honor AirbornE.When my computer asked if I wanted to format the disk, I assumed the DVD was inadvertently shipped blank. Is there a possibility that this is related to what you refer to as DRM??

 

[grimmone]

[citation][nom]kami3k[/nom]Funny that you say one lacks common sense when you lack intelligence. Not once did I say no DRM was risky, in fact I said the COMPLETE OPPOSITE. " heavy DRM just makes it more likely to be pirated." The risky parts I was talking about what games like Dead space, Mirror's edge, BF:Heroes, etc. The old EA would've of just stuck with old series that sold and not attempt new ones. Like I said, heavy DRM cost more then it saves. It's quite pathetic that my pirated copy of spore has much less problems then a DRM infested retail copy. Yet like I said before, spore still sold millions of copies. So no PC gamers are don't lack common sense, you just lack intelligence.[/citation]

I was agreeing with what you said, and adding to it.

*ahem*

 

[jj463rd]

So we are back to the old Safe Disk method of just the CD-Key numbers/letters. That's great.
That's why for several years I didn't purchase any PC Games because of Starforce,SercureROM,Activation and other crap.

 

[QEFX]

I just wonder why none of the game publishers / developers have decided to use some sort of USB fob / hardened flash drive for game control, since it would be, slightly, harder to pirate hardware than software.

Put the game as a free download but make customers buy a USB fob / secure flash drive (or two pack) that is required to be plugged in to play the game. You could then install the game on any machine you want and just take the fob with you. Given how cheap flash memory & embedded processors have gotten in the last few years, you could put a control chip / encryption chip and a few gigs of save-game room on a thumb drive sized object for less than $20 US. I'm not sure about anyone else but I'd be willing to pay the full game price + $10 to have zero install problems, no spyware / SecuRom BS, be able to install a game on any system I have access to and have my save-games (or whatever you want to put on the drive) with me.

Just a thought

 

[pirateboy]

Too bad. I really liked DRM on my machine.