EA Plays 'Guess The Serial Number' With Customers

from the quality-control dept

EA continues its attempts to make a near total mockery of DRM on video games. Its latest move, pointed out to us by Alex, was to misprint the serial numbers found on some versions of Command and Conquer Red Alert 3. Rather than showing the necessary 20 digits, EA only printed 19. To be fair, EA will supply the missing digit if you send in a photo of the first 19, but the company also suggests testing out every letter from A - Z and then every number from 0 - 9 to find the missing digit. While it's true that this is likely to be an effective workaround, it's yet another example showing DRM getting in the way of legitimate buyers, rather than doing anything useful.

Filed Under: serial numbers
Companies: ea

Amazon Caught Deleting Negative EA DRM-Related Reviews... Again

from the uh-oh dept

You probably remember the uproar that surrounded the release of Spore, where plenty of people were pissed off at EA's decision to use draconian DRM and made their feelings known via thousands of 1-star reviews on Amazon.com. At one point, all of those reviews disappeared from the site, leading some to accuse Amazon of censoring the reviews. Amazon quickly said that it was a glitch and the reviews came back.

However, it appears that "glitch" has come back -- and once again it's for thousands of DRM complaints on an EA game. EA released Crysis Warhead with the same awful SecuROM DRM, and the reviews made that clear. But, just as with Spore, the Crysis Warhead reviews magically disappeared. Amazon is once again claiming that it was a glitch, just like last time. As the article notes, there is one possibility, which is that Amazon has an automated system that tries to flag spam reviews, and the actions of the DRM complainers triggers that mechanism. That would make some amount of sense, though Amazon shouldn't keep calling it a glitch if that's the case.

Filed Under: amazon reviews, deletions, drm, reviews
Companies: amazon, ea

A Few Extra Virtual Maps Isn't A Real Reason To Buy A Video Game

from the it's-about-the-scarcity dept

There's definitely been an ongoing battle in the video game world from some executives complaining about used game sales for console games (there's been a bit of confusion in the past tying this to video game DRM -- which is more focused on PC games). We noted that EA was among those concerned, but was hoping to give people more reasons to buy new, rather than second hand. However, some folks in the comments complained about the methods EA was using, and that's worth a further discussion, especially as other examples are being shown. Reader DEF points out that another video game company, Epic, is trying to encourage original purchases by giving buyers a free voucher for certain in-game items, such as special maps. Such vouchers would only work for the initial buyer, thus, in theory increasing the value of the initial purchase.

There are a couple of problems with this approach. While I do think it's better to come up with "reasons to buy" rather than trying to sue people or pass laws requiring a cut of the secondhand market, this approach may get it backwards. Effectively, they're selling "infinite goods" rather than scarce goods, and that seems likely to backfire, for a few reasons. First, it actually diminishes the value of the game. One aspect that buyers take into account is the resale market. An active second hand market increases how much people are willing to pay for the original product, because they recognize that they can sell it later.

Second, when the focus is on charging for infinite goods (or only promising them to those who buy first hand copies), the incentives get risky. Suddenly, gaming companies are put in a position of choosing what "virtual" items are allowed in the game for first hand buyers vs. second hand buyers, and that leads them to make bad decisions in locking up important aspects of a game, frustrating potential buyers.

Plenty of games have shown that money can be made in charging for the service (a scarce good) of connecting and accessing an online world or community. If video game makers focused on that, then the entire issue of the second hand market wouldn't be such an issue. In that case, they'd want to get the actual games distributed as widely as possible, with as many features enabled as possible, to make the idea of playing in the online environment even more appealing.

Filed Under: infinite goods, video games, virtual goods, virtual map
Companies: ea, epic

EA Sued For Copyright Infringement Over College Fight Song

from the what's-good-for-the-goose? dept

Isn't it funny how some of the strongest defenders of copyright seem to have other opinions when they're on the other side of the fence? EA, which has kicked up lots of dust about copyright and DRM and the importance of intellectual property, is now finding itself on the receiving end of a lawsuit from from a composer and song writer alleging copyright infringement for the use of the UNLV "fight song" in various EA sports games. The guy claims to own the copyright on both the lyrics and the music. It's unclear if EA was under the impression that UNLV had licensed the song, and we often don't think of university fight songs as being helped along by copyright (you generally want more people singing them). So, while I think EA should be able to use the song without any trouble, it's always amusing when strong defenders of copyright suddenly find themselves in legal battles in which they may discover that copyright creates some new problems they didn't expect.

Filed Under: copyright, fight song, infringement, unlv, video games
Companies: ea

EA Brushes Off DRM Complainers As Fringe 0.2%

from the listening-to-your-customers dept

It would appear that gaming company EA got the wrong message concerning DRM after its Spore DRM debacle. While EA eventually backed down, it certainly did plenty to damage its own reputation in the gaming community. Hell, when we recently posted an article about EA that had nothing to do with DRM at all, a bunch of commenters used the post to complain about EA's DRM policy anyway. That suggests a Metallica-like reputation problem.

So, how is EA dealing with this reputation issue? Apparently by dismissing it as nothing to be concerned about. A whole bunch of our readers sent in this story about an EA exec claiming that only 0.2% of users would even notice the DRM used in Spore -- basically suggesting that the complaints were hyped up and out of proportion to the issue. That's sort of missing the point. While some users who complained might never actually encounter problems with the DRM, that doesn't mean that they're comfortable with the idea that EA has significantly limited how they can use a product that they purchased. Even a quick review of the history of DRM would show EA execs two things: it does nothing to stop piracy, and it seriously gets in the way of legitimate users, no matter how artfully designed.

Filed Under: customers, drm, reputation, spore
Companies: ea

EA Execs Also Worried About Second-Hand Sales... But With A Better Approach

from the recognizing-the-market dept

We recently wrote some video game execs complaining about how they should get a cut of any second-hand sales, apparently against the concept of the (well established) first sale doctrine. Reader EJDean alerts us to another article that quotes an exec at EA who also is complaining about second-hand sales, noting that it's a "critical situation." He makes an odd argument that video game companies probably do deserve a cut of the second hand market because digital products don't wear out, like normal second hand goods. Again, he may want to understand the first sale doctrine, as well as basic economics where the availability of a resale market helps increase the value of the initial product.

But, the good news is that while EA would like to get a cut of the secondhand market, it seems to at least realize that seriously pursuing it would be a problem. Instead, the company seems more focused on giving people reasons to pay, such as through additional online services that make it worthwhile for people to pay, rather than freaking out too much about second hand sales. This is the right approach. Rather than worrying about second-hand sales, find a business model where that's not even an issue.

Filed Under: resales, secondary markets, video games
Companies: ea

EA Finally Realizes People Are Upset Over Spore DRM

from the taken-by-surprise? dept

It only took two weeks since the massive backlash against EA for the DRM and account limits it included with Spore for EA to recognize that maybe it needed to respond. This morning, EA agreed to up the install limit from 3 times to 5, claiming they may also make exceptions in some cases, and also released a patch allowing for multiple user names. While it's nice that the company finally responded, this is still a pretty weak response and doesn't address the core issues.

Also, it's odd that it took the company this long to respond. EA claims that the controversy caught them "off guard." If so, then they clearly haven't paid much attention. We were among many sites that talked about the DRM problem back in May, which got tons of angry comments. Other sites that discussed the DRM got similar angry comments as well, so the only way this should have caught EA off guard was if they weren't paying any attention whatsoever to what various gamers were saying.

Filed Under: drm, spore, user accounts
Companies: ea

Did Amazon Delete Spore Reviews? [Updated]

from the they're-all-gone dept

Want to know how not to respond to criticism? By deleting it. Yet, it appears that's what Amazon has done. Earlier this week we wrote about the controversy of EA's decision to put cumbersome DRM on the highly anticipated video game, Spore. The response was that thousands of people started posting one star reviews of Spore, noting the problems with the DRM. Things then got worse when people realized that EA had misled customers about the fact that they could only have one user account on Spore.

Now, a bunch of people have noticed that Amazon appears to have deleted all of the reviews on the Spore page. This is only going to end badly. When you try to shut down a large group of people who feel wronged, you're not just whacking the bees' nest with a stick, you're setting it on fire with a flame thrower. The folks who were complaining are only going to complain louder, and louder. Remember what happened when Digg tried to takedown the AACS crack? Whoever was responsible for removing the comments -- whether it was Amazon or EA -- they may find that the reaction to trying to shut down the angry mob is only going to make folks that much angrier, and alert that many more people to the problems they have with EA's use of DRM.

Update: It appears that some, or potentially all, of the reviews are now back on the site, and Amazon is claiming that it was a "glitch" that they disappeared. Some people claim that their own reviews are not back yet, though, so the whole situation is a bit fluid. Either way, if it really was a glitch, it was a pretty bad time and place for such a glitch to occur.

Filed Under: backlash, deletions, drm, reviews, spore, streisand effect
Companies: amazon, ea

EA Admits That You Can Only Have One Spore Player Per Install

from the and-it-lied-in-the-manual dept

Things aren't getting much better for EA since critics of its overly annoying DRM on the new video game Spore expressed their displeasure in droves on the Amazon page for the game. Now, Consumerist alerts us to another, related, issue that is pissing off many of those who did buy the game: you can only have one player account at a time. That means that if you live in a multi-person household, and multiple people would like to play the game themselves... EA says you need to pay up for another $50 license. Of course, if the game didn't have DRM that wouldn't be a problem.

Even worse, the manual for Spore says exactly the opposite:

You may have multiple Spore accounts for each installation of the game.

Users, however, have been complaining that doesn't seem possible, and while it took a while, an EA rep finally admitted "our bad":

That section in the manual was a misprint and will be corrected in future printings of the manual. There is one Spore registration/account per game/serial code so you are correct in that you cannot make multiple accounts at this time.

This isn't exactly the best way to win fans over to the game, is it?

Filed Under: drm, spore, user accounts
Companies: ea

EA Ignored The Warnings; Now Getting Slammed For Spore's DRM

from the they-were-warned dept

Back in May, we wrote about an uproar in the gamer community over EA's decision to include some incredibly cumbersome DRM on some new games, including the highly anticipated Spore. That story got a ton of comments and plenty of other sites also wrote about it as well, leading EA to back down just a little bit, and promise to use slightly less draconian DRM. Either way, EA should have been well aware of how the community feels about DRM on games like Spore.

Apparently, the folks there didn't pay enough attention.

A bunch of readers have been sending in the news that Spore is getting slammed in reviews on its Amazon review page, as well over a thousand reviewers have all given the product one star, while trashing EA for the use of the DRM. Yet another lesson in what happens when your customers warn you ahead of time that they don't want you to cripple the products they buy from you -- and you fail to listen.

Filed Under: drm, reviews, spore, video games
Companies: amazon, ea