The Sims 3 will not feature the copy protection system that Electronic Arts had used to fan outrage on Spore, but a more standard serial number system (without any online authentication needed), the company has confirmed.
Speaking on his official blog, The Sims 3 Studio Manager Rod Humble said: “We feel like this is a good, time-proven solution that makes it easy for you to play the game without [anti-piracy] methods that feel overly invasive or leave you concerned about authorization server access in the distant future.”
Spore, The Sims-creator Will Wright’s last game, caused outrage among fans for a copy-protection system that only allowed the game to be installed three times ever (causing problems for any reformatting their machine or buying a new PC), and only let you have one copy of the game per household. Spore suffered high levels of piracy, with many claiming this was fans rebelling against “draconian” copy-protection by seeking out versions of the game with it removed or disabled.
With PC gamers apparently tech-savvy enough to rebel in significant numbers over repressive copy-protection measures, Electronic Arts, the world’s largest games company, has presumably decided not to rile The Sims 3 buyers this time out. Whether the policy will apply to all Electronic Arts PC games going forward remains to be seen.
Out 5 June | £40 | The Sims 3 (available at Game.co.uk)
