EA Releases SecuROM De-Authorization Tool

By Marcus Yam
published

Electronic Arts is trying to make things right again with the release of the SecuROM de-authorization tool.

PC gamers probably know all too well the pains caused by SecuROM copy protection. EA’s game management system with SecuROM places a limit on its games to be installed on up to five computers to play the game.

While good in theory, in practice this just caused headaches for gamers who legitimately purchased the game. To ease their pain, EA has now released a tool that will manage the authorizations of each of the SecuROM’s protected games.

“If your EA PC game was released after May 2008 and has a machine authorization limit, you can now manage your computer authorizations using EA De-Authorization Tools!” EA released.

Gamers have the option to download a tool that will scan a user’s computer for any applicable games to de-authorize, or the user may choose to selectively download tools specific to each game.

The games affected are:

  • Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box
  • Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
  • Crysis Warhead
  • Dead Space
  • FIFA Manager 09
  • FIFA Soccer 09
  • Littlest Pet Shop
  • The Lord of the Rings: Conquest
  • Mass Effect
  • Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
  • Mirror's Edge
  • MySims
  • Need for Speed: Undercover
  • NHL 09
  • Spore
  • Spore Creature Creator
  • The Sims 2: Apartment Life
  • The Sims 2 IKEA Home Stuff
  • The Sims 2 Mansion and Garden Stuff

With new developments in game DRM from Microsoft, Valve and Stardock, perhaps life will get easier for PC gamers who buy their games.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
18 Comments Comment from the forums
  • timaahhh
    Thank god. Sony has been horrible with DRM. EA's implimentations didn't help either the 3 install limit is unreal. Valves seems to know what they are doing with DRM, as does StarDock.
    Reply
  • stridervm
    It helps, but it really doesn't solve the problem. The hassle that pirates don't experience. *sigh*
    Reply
  • LATTEH
    YES NOW IM BUYING MASS EFFECT YES!!!
    Reply
  • gwolfman
    So, what if you had it installed on another machine and formatted? You're stuck with one authorization that you can't ever get rid of?
    Reply
  • wikiwikiwhat
    Man, sometimes the thing is that people want to play LAN maybe once or twice in a month and the game you have you can put on all the computers. I understand they want to get all they can for the product they own and the licenses they lease to us, but in gaming it doesn't work that way. Customers aren't businesses (yes, some are but most businesses aren't buying games to just install them), they are people trying to have fun on a weekend after a long week.

    I absolutely love PC gaming but there is no way to stop piracy. That may be a downfall to PC gaming. But if businesses have more deals for LAN goers then they will pay. A regular game that costs 50 bucks, if they had a LAN special of like 3 copies for 100 bucks I'd be all for it. Well, if the game was worth it. Its better than people illegally downloading it and using a keygen. Plus, customers would feel better about getting a sweet deal and would probably buy from the publisher again. Publisher makes some money at least to continue its survival.

    Reply
  • eklipz330
    LATTEHYES NOW IM BUYING MASS EFFECT YES!!!
    mass effect is ea drm free on steam... but still has the install steam thing which you may not like, or the lack of a physical copy..but it gets the job done nonetheless

    this is def a move in the right direction, now we know ea falls into peer pressure. once other companies find a better drm solution, they will follow. hopefully they will rid of drm from any ea game after sims 3
    Reply
  • megamanx00
    Not too sure how I feel about this. I mean really the games should deauthorize themselves when you uninstall them, but at least you have this tool if it doesn't. Another case for steam being a better alternative, unless you have dial up :D. Well, then again people using Time Warrner cable may start thinking twice about downloading games from Steam now that they are going forward with their whole metered internet billing ^_^.
    Reply
  • daft
    i can finally play littlest pet shop again! hurrah!!!!!!!!
    Reply
  • JimmiG
    Legally purchased games are catching up, but the pirates still offer superior products with less hassle and less "luggage". I'm not encouraging piracy, just stating the truth. I know of many who legally purchase games only to go home and download them off the net so they don't have to deal with the DRM...
    Reply
  • tiredwolf
    Yeah I just get everything off of steam and dont have to worry about it... when i first heard about steam I really didn't like the idea of of not getting a box, I just kinda collected them. But after getting used to it, it's way better, no more worrying about scratched cd's :D
    Reply