Fungal Infection

Video game producer EA has closed the chapter on a turbulent feud with its target market by announcing that the next instalment of The Sims will relinquish DRM.

In a public statement posted on the official Sims 3 website, studio head Rod Humble described DRM as overly invasive. He said that the Sims 3 would include disc-based copy-protection – a simple serial code – and the game would not need any online authentication.

The DRM debacle surrounding EA's last major PC title, Spore, had in many cases overshadowed the merits of the game itself.

Humble's announcement of the standard disc-based copy-protection may effectively bury the hatchet between publisher and its anti-DRM audience: We feel like this is a good, time-proven solution that makes it easy for you to play the game without DRM methods that feel overly invasive or leave you concerned about authorization server access in the distant future.

Update: Remove Spore Infestation

4th April. See article from gamepolitics.com

Edge Online reports that EA is now offering a software tool which can be used by PC gamers to remove authorization limits on Spore. This will allow computer games to be re-installed or moved to other PCs without limitation.

Download EA's De-authorization Management Tool (DMT) here.

The reaction to Ubisoft's DRM, which requires a constant Internet connection, has been well documented, with a reverse boycott organized and hackers taking down the publisher's authentication servers twice. The new Electronic Arts release Command & Conquer 4, despite employee claims that the game has NO DRM. Zip, zero, zilch, none, also requires an Internet connection to play, which has already resulted in a thread full of complaints on the C&C forums.

A way to fight back might be to link up with the organization Defective by Design, which proposes that DRM should stand for Digital Restrictions Management. The group is organizing a Day Against DRM that is scheduled for May 4, 2010.