EA Denies DRM Problems With Sims 2

FROM ggmania ......


EA Denies DRM Problems With Sims 2

For the past 2 weeks there has been an uproar on the Sims 2 forums concerning the inclusion of Sony's SecuROM DRM software in the latest expansion pack, Bon Voyage. It seems paid customers have been having problems since day one of release, but EA is only now, 5 weeks later, issuing an official statement (thanks Slashdot.org) on the matter:
Two weeks ago it was brought to our attention that a Sims 2 player was having difficulty with his PC, perhaps due to a conflict with the SecuROM copy protection system that is utilized on EA PC games. Since then, there has been an outpouring of emotion, passion, and confusion on this topic. It has been a difficult time for all of us: both The Sims 2 team and our players. Our Sims 2 community is the most passionate in the game industry. There is no doubt about this, it is what makes us such a unique and thriving community. The past 2 weeks have proven this once again. We appreciate you greatly and want you to have all the information about SecuROM that we can provide.

In recent collaboration with Sony DADC, the makers of SecuROM, we have created a Frequently Asked Questions sheet, posted below to address the questions that have been posed here on the BBS. It has been well documented by our players on the BBS that PC issues may occur. Since this was discovered, we set up a 24/7 SecuROM Customer Support team to help our players resolve these potential issues. Since that team was set up 2 weeks ago, we received only 12 calls to EA's North American Support Center from players looking for help with their PC's, suspecting a conflict with SecuROM. Sony DADC received just 29 calls about The Sims 2 Bon Voyage and SecuROM. Publicly available resources indicate that considerably more than 100,000 copies of The Sims 2 Bon Voyage have been sold in North America alone. So in perspective, while we'd like to have zero calls, we have received 41 calls on the more than 100,000 copies sold.
In other words, the only people having problems as a result of this DRM are... the honest customers. So as usual, DRM designed to make the pirates job impossible while not damaging the user experience have the exact opposite result, and the pirates are the only ones with a hassel-free experience, while the paying customers are left to suffer alone in the cold and dark that is Customer Relations. Interestingly enough, the expansion pack was cracked and up on the internet less than 24 hours after its release...

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