Recently, EA opened up closed beta signups to PC gamers looking to get a taste of the city-building series reboot SimCity. The EULA that closed beta entrants were forced to sign was a bit strange, as it stated the following: “It is understood and agreed that, as part of your participation in the Beta Program, it is your responsibility to report all known bugs, abuse of ‘bugs’, ‘undocumented features’ or other defects and problems related to the Game and Beta Software to EA as soon as they are found (“Bugs”). If you know about a Bug or have heard about a Bug and fail to report the Bug to EA, we reserve the right to treat you no differently from someone who abuses the Bug. You acknowledge that EA reserve the right to lock anyone caught abusing a Bug out of all EA products.”
Essentially, anyone who has knowledge of a bug and fails to report it will not only be banned from the SimCity beta, but be locked entirely out of their Origin accounts. The wording of the EULA raised a bit of ruckus across various media outlets. EA responded by changing the wording of the EULA and released yet another statement explaining the company's stance: "The clause in the EA Beta Agreement for the SimCity beta was intended to prohibit players from using known exploits to their advantage. However, the language as included is too broad. EA has never taken away access to a player’s games for failing to report a bug. We are now updating the Beta Agreement to remove this point."
This isn't the first time that the publishing giant has stirred up a bit of controversy with its EULAs. Back in 2011, EA's distribution service Origin had a EULA that was worded in a way that could be interpreted to allow EA to monitor and share applications running on a user's PC. Soon after, the company changed the wording of the EULA, removing or altering all clauses that would allow it to collect any personally identifiable information.
