Based on a post on the Ubisoft forum today (via Blue's News), it sounds like the French game publisher is trying harder than its Electronic Arts to make digital rights management less cumbersome on its customers. An Ubisoft forum manager outlined the DRM plans for the PC version of its upcoming shooter Far Cry 2. Assuming it works as described, you'll get a bit more freedom to reinstall the game at your leisure than EA has offered with Spore and Crysis: Warhead.
According to the Ubisoft Forum Manager:
- You have five activations on three separate PCs.
- Uninstalling the game "refunds" an activation. This process is called "revoke", so as long as you complete proper uninstall you will be able to install the game an unlimited number of times on 3 systems.
- You can upgrade your computer as many times as you want (using our revoke system)
- Ubisoft is committed to the support of our games, and additional activations can be provided.
- Ubisoft is committed to the long-term support of our games: you'll always be able to play Far Cry 2.
The biggest difference between Ubisoft's and EA's DRM is that EA lacks the "revoke" function. Once you've installed one of its games on three systems, you need to contact EA's customer support and ask for authorization for future installs.
Far Cry 2 will feature a forgiving DRM scheme.
(Credit: FarCryGame.com)Interestingly, EA CEO John Riccotello was quoted yesterday by PaidContent saying, "We implemented a form of DRM and it's something that 99.8 percent of users wouldn't notice." That speaks to the question, who needs to load a game on more than three systems? We suspect that Riccotello is correct, and that install limits on its games won't affect the majority of its customers.
Still, we applaud Ubisoft for taking the extra step and empowering PC gamers to, in effect, manage their own digital rights. We'll also confess a personal interest, in that we've had our eye on Far Cry 2 as a new PC gaming benchmark. We still need to learn more about how it really works, but what we've heard so far sounds promising.
It looks like EA has made a turn-around in response to fan outrage at its plans for a complicated DRM scheme in two high-profile PC games due out later this year.
Word came out yesterday that Spore (from Sims-meister Will Wright) and the PC version of Xbox 360 hit Mass Effect would implement a new version of the Securom DRM middleware, which not only requires you to keep a game's DVD in the drive to play it, but would need to perform an authenticity check every 10 days, which would have required your computer to be online during that time.
Electronic Arts has high expectations for its forthcoming, PC-only Spore from Sims creator Will Wright. Irritating DRM won't help.
(Credit: CNET)Amid much fan outrage and negative publicity, it appears EA and each game's respective developer has relented and will instead implement a more benign DRM strategy. Gamer's Hell reported that Mass Effect will now require a one-time online authentication, and it will reauthenticate each time you connect to the game's download servers, but that it will no longer require constant reauthentication. Kotaku reported the same decision has been made for Spore.
On the Mass Effect user forum, the community manager from developer BioWare cited its its "many friends in the armed services and internationally who expressed concerns that they would not be able reauthenticate as often as required," as one of the reasons for the change. Considering that the forum topic in which Bioware announced its original plan generated 115 pages of comments, it's probably fair to say that fan opinion had something to do with it as well.
Copy protection remains a huge issue for PC game developers and publishers. Just a few weeks ago, Cevat Yerli, the president of Crysis developer CryTek told Hungary's PC Play that his company was abandoning PC exclusives because of rampant piracy. We certainly understand that issue, but clunky DRM is not the answer if publishers want to encourage PC gamers to buy their products.
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Over on Techdirt Thursday morning, there's a report about some angry PC users of Electronic Arts games.
The gamers are upset, according to a post in the Mass Effect forums, because EA is apparently implementing a new Internet-based digital rights management system, known as SecuROM, that they find onerous, intrusive, and inconvenient.
Techdirt writes that a new version of SecuROM being employed by EA "is causing controversy due to an online verification system connected to its CD key. The system requires a connection to the Internet during installation to check (that) the CD key is valid, and then registers the key with the users' computer. After this the game will try to re-check the CD key every 5-10 days to ensure it hasn't since been found posted on a forum, or used in some form of piracy."
Then, it seems, if the key cannot be verified, SecuROM will attempt to do so for 10 more days. If, after that period, it still cannot be verified, Techdirt writes, the game will be locked down.
Further, SecuROM seems to limit the number of times a game can be installed to three.
Systems like this are never going to be winners for companies like EA. For every copy of one of its games that it successfully keeps from being illegally copied, it's going to lose a good customer who's beyond annoyed at the way the system works and the way they feel they're being treated.
To be sure, software companies feel they have to fight tooth and nail to avoid being robbed due to the ease with which many programs can be copied. But it seems they would do well to run their antipiracy/DRM systems by their PR departments--or, if they're doing that already, then some outside consultants--to make sure that the systems aren't going to alienate their user bases.
If they're already doing that, they might want to consider seeking additional guidance. Because as the Sony rootkit scandal and other DRM PR nightmares have shown, users do not want to be controlled in this way. And they vote with their wallets.
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