I hate DRM with a passion, but I feel I owe its creators a fruit basket. After all, it gives me more free target practice than the rest of this industry’s bullshit. Take what’s been happening with Arkham Asylum — new purchases aren’t working on Steam because SecuROM won’t let it activate the authentication keys.
Consumers already spent their cash on the title when it got marked down in the Steam summer sale, but have been unable to play it since. They’ve bombarded the forums about the issue, but Valve’s kept quiet. Warner Bros. is allegedly looking into it.
This isn’t the first time Warner’s attempts to control the end user have messed with paying customers. Arkham City‘s infamous “Catwoman Pass” codes were missing from many newly purchased copies, while pre-order bonuses failed to unlock. PC users were also maddened over City when it turned out the game ran terribly when using the very features it was supposedly delayed in order to make use of.
If you are the person who makes the final decision to put SecuROM in a PC game, know this — you are a bad person.
[Thanks, CaimDark!]
