The Sims 3 to use disk-based copy protection

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The Sims 3 to use disk-based copy protection

Posted Mar 26th 2009 4:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Casual, Simulation, The Sims 3

Remember last fall when a small but extremely loud group of consumers slammed Electronic Arts for their DRM set-up in Spore? The debate over the online-enabled copy protection for the game threatened to overshadow the release of the game itself. Now it seems EA may be learning from the hard lessons of that PR debacle for their next major PC game release The Sims 3.

In a post on the game's official web site, the head of the Sims/Casual division Rod Humble states, "The game will have disc-based copy protection – there is a Serial Code just like The Sims 2. To play the game there will not be any online authentication needed. 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." While we are sure that many gamers would prefer The Sims 3 to be DRM free this solution might be a solid compromise.

Gallery: The Sims 3 Screenshots

Tags: drm, ea, electronic-arts, the-sims-3

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

YEY!!! I love this kind of DRM, I mean this isn't really even DRM in my opinion, games have had these kinds of codes for a long time, I have no problem with them.Posted at 4:51PM on Mar 26th 2009 by Alex

This makes the game mondo easy to pirate. If they wanted to deter piracy, they could just make the game more of a hassle to pirate in other ways, such as by requiring three dual-layer DVDs for the install. 25GB is a pain in the ass for anybody to pirate, particularly if you need to buy dual-layer DVD-Rs to burn it. This is also good because it does no harm to legitimate customers (other than filling up their hard drives, but I suppose The Sims games do that anyway.Posted at 6:11PM on Mar 26th 2009 by Covarr

Well, if they did that for that game Covarr, they'd have to do it for every bloody "Expansion" as well. Considering Sims 2 had 10+ easy, and that follows suit here, thats 250 gigs... alot of space wasted for what? A few new outfits and box space.Posted at 7:51PM on Mar 26th 2009 by devilsei

This is the _SIMS_ we are talking about here devilsei, people eat that kind of shit up, regardless of how big/expensive/pointless it is :PPosted at 1:57PM on Mar 27th 2009 by Gripen40k

I support the Sims 3 staff for making this descision to phase out SecuRom as one of those choices. However, since SafeDisc 4 has long been obsolete, it is unlikely that they would use it. There are worse disc based copy protection there is on the market like StarForce which actually installs "Drivers" that detects disc emulators and anti-blacklist tools but exposing the affected computer to security risks that could be exploited by viruses.

Knowing EA's methods and tactics, The CD check will not be that simple compared to The Sims 2. However, EA is not in the position in displeasing its customers because of the financial crisis and is losing revenue because of the boycotts on SecuRom protected products and piracy becomes practical as most of a person's budget is concentrated on survival. The main fall for GTA IV for PC wherin their console counterparts became the fastest-selling video game is its copy protection (others are technical issues, gargantuan system requirements, and a long list of problems) wherein even its buyers would even demand a refund and rather choose to download it from a torrent site at "no expense to the consumer and no royalty for the producer" (I'm not saying illegal because law varies from country to country and I don't care cause I'm a habitual downloader and my country seems to be focused on the optical side of piracy which they only raid movie DVDs and ignore the rest like software and not on Internet based "exchange of information" where no one really spends or profits except for the ISPs)

However, EA won't take it easy on pirates. They will have a way that mounting disc images on disc emulators won't be as easy as 1-2-3 and cracking the protection will cause random crashes and malfunctions. And the there will still be updates for the Anti-copy protection where it will regularly download updates as soon as a new anti-blacklist tool is published on the web. By this, it is still bad like SecuROM.Posted at 5:34AM on Apr 18th 2009 by TRiAD