The controversy surrounding Electronic Arts and DRM has been going on for quite a while, and according to EA boss John Riccitiello, it's an issue that was blown out of proportion by a tiny "cabal" of protesters. He downplayed the situation, but did admit that he's no fan of DRM himself.
"We're still working out the kinks. We implemented a form of DRM and it's something that 99.8 percent of users wouldn't notice. But for the other .2 percent, it became an issue and a number of them launched a cabal online to protest against it.
I personally don't like DRM. It interrupts the user experience. We would like to get around that. But there is this problem called piracy out there."
While it's likely true that a vast majority of users didn't mind the use of SecuROM in Spore, it's just as likely they had no clue about its use in the first place. EA doesn't often disclose what goes into its games, so the average consumer would be ignorant as to the use of DRM, or even what DRM is.
Clearly, the people that know more about Digital Rights Management and SecuROM dislike it as much at Riccitiello. Also, it's quite clear that DRM is useless in the fight against piracy, and is most likely used to guard against second hand games. Perhaps EA should start admitting that, but of course that makes the use of SecuROM far less noble.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
10:24 AM on 10.15.2008
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And WTF is this bullshit statement about piracy? Oh, you mean the piracy that totally removed the "interruption" of the user experience before the game even hit the shelves?
This guy is a complete arse.
He failed to complete that statistic. I believe he's quoting from the Mass Effect DRM info which is that 99.8 percent of users didn't have to phone them up within the first 4 months.
Also, This story should be titled "Man who is paid a tonne of money by EA says EA is not shit"
I'm too lazy to pirate but I will when I get around to it.