Hallelujah! EA says DRM a 'failed, dead-end strategy'

[Snipeye]

EA says DRM a 'failed, dead-end strategy'
March 27, 2013 6:04PM PDT

By Eddie Makuch, News Editor

Labels boss Frank Gibeau says digital rights management "not a viable strategy" for gaming at large.

Digital rights management (DRM) is a broken system, EA Labels president Frank Gibeau told GamesIndustry International this week at the Game Developers Conference.

"DRM is a failed, dead-end strategy; it's not a viable strategy for the gaming business," Gibeau said.

The EA executive's comments came in response to a question about whether or not SimCity's always-online mandate was actually a form of DRM. Gibeau insisted this is not the case.

"That's not the reality; I was involved in all the meetings. DRM was never even brought up once," he said. "For the folks who have conspiracy theories about evil suits at EA forcing DRM down the throats of Maxis, that's not the case at all."

SimCity launched earlier this month amid server woes that made the game unplayable for some. The city-building game went on to sell over 1.1 million copies during its first two weeks, marking the best start in franchise history.

http://www.gamespot.com/events/gdc-2013/story.html?sid=6406094

Now if they'll remove the fail DRM from SimCity, we can start talking.

 

[Nether]

Finally EA , You've finally know how stupid DRM is.

 

[ResiDew]

I'm guessing removing DRM will be a DLC.

 

[Martyr]

Doesn't this just mean they'll use it more? I thought that using failed, dead-end strategies was EA's trademark.

 

[Ezekiel]

Except...they're claiming what SimCity has isn't DRM?

 

[Durandal9]

No no, SimCity is "an MMO". An online service and DRM are different, so all they have to do is find an excuse to make it an "online service" and they aren't using DRM!

Just dodging the demonization of the word DRM.

 

[Johnny]

Except...they're claiming what SimCity has isn't DRM?

Lol, exactly. I'm confused as to why there's excitement about this. SimCity still needs to be always-on the net. Lol

 

[Snipeye]

Lol, exactly. I'm confused as to why there's excitement about this. SimCity still needs to be always-on the net. Lol

Actually, it doesn't. There's technically a hack or something out there that allows gamers to actually play the game without having to connect to Origin, or have it be persistent. There was a thread about this discussing EA's failure at critical thinking and actually providing an excuse that wasn't full of holes.

 

[ResiDew]

Actually, it doesn't. There's technically a hack or something out there that allows gamers to actually play the game without having to connect to Origin, or have it be persistent. There was a thread about this discussing EA's failure at critical thinking and actually providing an excuse that wasn't full of holes.

I know one of EA's excuse was that part of the game couldn't be handled on a computer and that doing it through a server is MUCH easier. I know there are hacks that allow offline mode, bigger city plots, and even ones that allow you to control/destroy a city in a random group.

 

[Johnny]

Actually, it doesn't. There's technically a hack or something out there that allows gamers to actually play the game without having to connect to Origin, or have it be persistent. There was a thread about this discussing EA's failure at critical thinking and actually providing an excuse that wasn't full of holes.

Except you can't save your game with this method, since you're not connected to their cloud. I read that article, too.