EA On and Off Strict DRM

Reports came in last week that EA planned to include strong Digital Rights Management controls within the upcoming PC releases Spore and Mass Effect. The controls required the game to contact a central service for validation every ten days, making it impossible to play the games on systems without reliable Internet connections.

Following public outcry, EA has since retracted their statements, saying that a one-time authentication would be sufficient. Of course, you still have to use the CD to play the game, bringing to bear the specter of copy protection. I suppose it's better than behind-the-scenes spying.

Games publishers just can't seem to get it right. Statements made by Crytek, makers of beloved Crysis, say they will likely abandon PC exclusivity to develop future games on consoles as well, because of piracy concerns. I don't buy that excuse. More likely they understand that by putting games out on more platforms equals more sales which equals more dollars.

Two great examples of reasonable copy protections are present in two of my favorite PC games: Sins of a Solar Empire and Company of Heroes. Solar Empire simply doesn't have any copy protections. You just put your serial in when the software installs. You don't need the CD to play. You do, however, have to register your serial number if you wish to have support, including game updates.

Similarly for Company of Heroes, you must register your key, but you do so online. Whenever you launch the game, similar to a MMO like Guild Wars or WoW, you just auth to the service with account credentials and then you're free to play your game, also without CD. When you auth, you're also "online" and available for messages from your friends. Because you the communications to home base are understood as the multi-player component of the game, the publisher is very upfront about what central authentication is. Of course, you can skip all that and just play off the CD, and the CD is available as a secondary authentication method when you cannot connect to the Internet.

EA would do well to take a page out of Stardock or THQ's book in understanding how to treat customers. I understand piracy is a real concern, and all the people who work hard on these games deserve our support and our money for making great games, but punishing legitimate customers because of the bad behavior of pirates is a poor business decision.