EA in Spore DRM climbdown

FAIL!

EA is about to F*ck there whole franchise up with Sh*t like "saying in some cases users would need to purchase a fresh copy to play Spore. Classy!" Why the hell are these twats even worried about piracy they own the largest portion of the gaming market overall. I mean come on WTF seriously is money that tight now you need DRM I would expect that from Micro$oft or RIAA and MPAA but seriously im about to just give up on all of it. Looks like we might be starting the very painful death of the gaming industry as we know it!!

CAN WE GET A FAIL ICON ADDED PLEASE??

>/ tux cause he knows all about open source and freeware

That's not the point!

EA still hasn't got it, haven't they? People don't want SecuROM because it kills hardware and corrupts hard disks. Unless this is a ploy to get people to buy more replacement hardware.

Skull and swords, because forcing people to buy replacement hardware should be a crime.

The restrictions are only half the problem

OK, so they cut the restrictions back to a semi-reasonable level. But the SecuROM malware is still there, isn't it? I will not install hostile software designed to interfere with the operation of my computer. In my view putting that in a product without informing the user is criminal.

And the score is ....

EA = 0 , Angry Internet Men = 1

If they say...

"We have found that 75% of our customers install and play any particular game on only one machine, and less than 1% ever try to play on more than three different machines."

Why do they even need DRM? For less then 1% they are going to make 99% install crap software? And pay the licence fee for the securom junk?

I was going to pick it up on release day, now that I've read real user reviews I've kind of lost interest so they missed their chance. Maybe if I see it cheap in the discount bin some day.

Any yet they do it again ?

So they say sorry about the DRM but then bung it on Crysis Warhead and are still planning on putting it on Command and Conquer Red Alert 3.

if it is trying to learn from its mistakes and make ammends why make exactly the same mistake again and again ?

Gameplay boring

With or without DRM, game was kinda crap anyway, so I don't see what the fuss is about. At least once the patch is out, I can finally get rid off it.

EA just don't get it...

EA can scale down the DRM all they want, but people's objection isn't entirely about how restrictive the DRM is, it's just the fact that it's there in the first place. It's the same reason some people don't buy from iTunes, it's just the fact that there is a DRM system in place and they don't want to be locked into a proprietary DRM system where the provider is in a position to tell you what you can and cannot do with your property. So until EA removes the DRM system entirely (unlikely), I will be staying well away

Suprise ?

"EA tells the Los Angeles Times the customer fallout took the company by surprise."

and yet they took a hit about using the same DRM in mass effect, and they didn't see the back lash coming?

Deactivating user accounts if you post about DRM?

I don't know about you, but to me this sounds strangely like censorship, doesn't it? Next we will be seeing the EA equivalent of the Cheka! They will come round your house and periodically demand you recite the registration code by heart. If you cannot, you will be taken away to one of EA's dungeons and your computer will be crushed. All for our protection of course. Electronic Arts - Tough on freedom, tough on the causes of freedom.

Typical 'Industry' attitude.

And they (still!) wonder what prompts people to consider a pirate copy over the 'real thing'?

And as for the 'threat' to de-activate user accounts!

Don't they realise that if they DO that, the disenfranchised are almost certainly going to look elsewhere.

Wake up (and smell the coffee) EA!

When will game companies learn?

No matter what DRM/Copy Protection you put into a game, someone will always find a way round it.

bah!

"To make amends, EA said on Friday it will roll out an update for Spore that eliminates several points of contention."

Oooh, now I'm thinking about getting a copy.

...

"site moderators seem to be threatening to deactivate user accounts that post complaints about the game's DRM – saying in some cases users would need to purchase a fresh copy to play Spore."

And now i'm not.

Sorry Frank, waste of time mate!

EA Games President Frank Gibeau told the LA Times, "We assumed that consumers understand piracy is a huge problem."

Yes, but one trip around some of the more famous names in P2P networks would have yielded the fact that, no exaggeration, hundred of thousands of dodgy copies of "Sore" have been shifted, sans DRM. Downloaded by those who don't give a monkey's or simply want a backup for something they believe they have a right to use.

Frank, the P2P figures show your DRM thingy ultimately has made no real difference, other than as usual annoying those who are actually honest and buy it. I hardly ever buy PC games. Franky, I try the demo, if I like it I check if a crack is out, if so I buy the game and then download the crack to ensure I can keep the discs safe or ensure I can always play it as the developers intended me to. If no crack, then I simply keep playing the demo, I am not supporting your "rental" agreements.

Fools

They had exactly the same shitstorm over Mass Effect, and they're "surprised" by the backlash? They climbed down over ME, and they're climbing down over Spore.

They could save themselves so much time, effort and money if they just didn't screw around with their miserable DRM in the first place. EA just don't learn.

Let's hope that businesses like Stardock and GOG.com are successful enough to show these corporate idiots how wrong they are with their retrograde thinking.

Gah!

Hidden agenda

EA know full well SecuROM DRM doesn't have any effect on piracy whatsoever. Their aim is to obliterate the second-hand market and I believe a spokesman even said as much at one point (can't find the quote at the minute... I'm sure somebody else will). Lifting the install limit ought to sort this out in theory, although I suspect future EA releases will default back to draconian mode in an effort to wear people into submission.

Threatening users with account suspension and invalidation of their game license for talking about the DRM is a classic. Although we don't have such rights here in the UK, I believe there's something about having the right to free speech in the US.

The whole situation stinks to high heaven and I hope the negative publicity hits EA where it hurts, i.e. the bottom line.

consumer protection

This is another demonstrate of why we need better consumer protection laws, that would dictate what fair usage of a game or application is. That way completely over the top DRM such as this would simply be against the law to implement, and to threaten users with revoking their accounts for simply discussing DRM would also be against the law.

All DRM like this does it to harm the customer experience and drive people away from the PC market, as games no longer have any resale value, unlike console games.

This seems to almost encourage piracy, as at least those versions don't have any of the DRM restrictions!

lol ea

EA truly are turning into some evil dictatorship of a producer, remember the good old days of desert strike?

sigh

/goes back to playing bad company

Better than nothing

They really should have seen this coming, but fair play to EA for addressing the problems. That's a much better deal than before.

RE: so long and thanks for all the fun

was my post and should have included I've also installed MoHAA, Spearhead, Breakthrough and playing them too. ;)

Not good enough.

Doesn't change the fact that you're still being treated like a criminal. Doesn't change the fact you're still at the Mercey of EA if things go wrong. Doesn't change the fact that EA still think this crap works.

Reg review

Have any El Reg readers played the game? How about an adult review - i.e. is this game worth all the press coverage it's getting ? OK, we care about the principle, but EA will never back down completely, so is this game worth fretting about ?

Consoles

Everyone will just switch to consoles in the end to avoid the hassle of DRM. This kind of bad thinking will be the death of the PC gaming market.

I've had loads of problems with securom games in the past because my Philips drive meets the CD spec (cos Philips wrote it) and the secrurom games don't. Playing anything on PC usually involves a deterring amount of faffage.

They need to make games easier to install and play, that way people will pay money and buy them. Simple isn't it?

Silly rabbit

So in hard times EA decide to screw over the gamers knowing full well what happened to other securom games such as Bioshock. Hmm. I wont touch an EA game after being shafted so many times. There are plenty of other games to play.

Paris, she loves a bit of rights management

Im spore free...

Apart from a headache, am I missing anything?

the link to forums tells it all

"Never forget what's going on here today. You'll want to include that in your decision making should you chose to buy another product from EA and/or Maxis. "

Ah well. I hope in the future they do not release a game that I would really want.

BTW, because of similar attitude toward clients I turned away from Sony some time ago, and have not come to regret this decision yet.

EA comment

The spokesman must be being deliberatley obtuse, the issue isn't with playing the game on multiple seperate computers, it is with reinstalling it on a single computer multiple times such as after upgrading a component or reinstalling the OS.

The renting analogy carries over to reselling it, there is no way to prove there are activations remaining meaning no secondhand market for these titles such as eBay.

Now how about other titles???

Seeming there is no mention of the DRM nor its underhand installation onto your computer (that I could find in the ULA) AND that they have admitted that this isnt necessarily the best way to stop pirates but instead to really piss off legit customers are they going to release similar "patches" for other SECUROM/DRM titles. E.g. Crysis Warhead please?

I (and I am sure lots of other people) will be upgrading their machines, processors, GFX cards to play this new lump of eye candy and seeming there doesnt seem to be much info on what would trigger one of your 3 activations people could get caught out from just trying to play the game at its best... surely not fair and now they have climbed down with Spore lets put pressure on them to do the same for existing and future games.

These new "rules" are better, but not perfect. They should be MUCH more open with the restrictions they put on and not try and hide them... come on, you know use "IT Professionals" better than that! We will find out. Present us with an obstacle and someone will find a way around it... usually within a day....

Devil Bill cos of the Vista license activation controversy that is/was similar.

They haven't got it, have they?

The problem here hasn't been addressed...

The fact is that legitimate users are still being punished with an inferior product. If the idea of their DRM was to stop 'casual' copying, ie lending it to a friend, then they could have achieved that by using a simple disc check. The fact is that any user familiar enough with particular sites to find a crack to remove that, will also be able to find the crack to make the existing 'security' completely redundant.

Their extra DRM acheives NOTHING...

oh DRM...

DRM fails again, well there's a big surprise. Personally I'm waiting for the Wii release of Spore because then all this PC DRM shit won't be a problem for me anyway. EA, DRM loving idiots that they are, do release a lot of good games but being a linux user with a relatively low spec computer (Core Duo 1.6ghz, 1GB RAM, Intel integrated Graphics) I'm happy to get console versions.

Paris, cos I wouldn't mind restricting her rights for a night.

PC Gaming, so long and thanks for all the fun

Starforce, securom, three installs, five installs and internet connections required for single player games.

I have over three hundred PC games on cdrom/dvd that I have bought over the years, more if I count the ones on floppies. Just last week I installed the original Half_Life and Opposing force and played them through yet again.

EA says five installs is enough for any "legitimate" user?

Well fuck you arseholes.

EA = Noobs

When will they get a clue?

Can I talk about Steam?

I bought the Orange Box 4 weeks ago.

I still haven't been able to play it offline.

Criminals don't have to put up with this shit.

@consoles

"Everyone will just switch to consoles in the end to avoid the hassle of DRM. This kind of bad thinking will be the death of the PC gaming market."

Which is entirely the point! They are looking for any excuse to drop the pc as a gaming platform. PC gamers won't stand for paying £50 a game, and there are alternatives unlike consoles. Piracy has become a nice finger pointing excercise, to say it's killing the pc games industry when the companies would love nothing more as they can charge more.

The draconian DRM does exactly the opposite of it's stated intent. It pushes more people to pirate, and so bolsters the claims that piracy is killing the PC gaming industry, despite the fact that people* always have, and always will, pay for games worth paying for.

*people with the money, anyway!

I'm not a gamer, but...

I used to buy movie DVD's and music CD's. I travel frequently and often would like to bring some DVD's with me to watch in the event the TV fare in the hotel/motel i was staying in didn't interest me. About a year ago, I bought a new laptop. I run Linux and there's no way my new laptop can be enticed to run DRM infested DVD's. But it plays downloaded ones perfectly.

I'll continue to pay for music CD's because they seem to work fine. I now save a lot of money on movies since I refuse to pay for crippled content.

I don't particularly believe in piracy and would pay for unrestricted content, in fact I have well over a hundred DVD's and VCR's that I did pay for in the past.

But no more. At least until things change and I can use the content I purchase on any platform I choose.

Posted anonymously because... well it should be evident...