Is EA killing gaming and the public market.

**Veho Nex** · 09-09-2008, 06:14

Following up on Martok's Spore DRM thread I've been wondering if it's just that EA is trying to kill the industry. There used to be a thread from a long while back about EA buying the rights to some games and then making an absolutely horrid expansion or part two. And now they plan to implement all their games with SecuRom and the like. It's funny if you think about it, take a look at the numbers, after reading the amazon customer reviews I went and took a look for my self at the amount of people pirating it, 5000 odd seeders with over 56,000 people downloading it? and from the the comments it seems that the pirated version will save you money and time in the end(NOTE DO NOT PIRATE ITS BAD!!) But it seems now that if I happen to uninstall spore to open up some space on my computer two more times, I'm stuck with either paying 30-50$ again or god forbid pirate it.

Now on to my main subject, Look at the past and look at the future does EA want to kill PC gaming and focus in on one market, or do you think they will change their minds and release a public statement apologizing for their screwy anti pirate schemes(Which failed horribly, yes I'm talking to you EA if you ever want my money again and what looks like most other people who feel the same way) then you will want to ask people to contact you so you can replace all of their games for free, with out your idea of a Secure, we won't get pirated program.

heres a picture from my scans of the internet.(Cannot link because of rules)

Now from what I've read it seems that over 300,000 people have finished downloading spore, now multiply all that by 50 and you get $15,000,000 lost in just the first week of release... now EA please cut your losses and stop killing

Ehhh hopefully no rules were violated in this thread

**Mailman653** · 09-09-2008, 06:31

I agree that pirating is bad and companies need to do something about how they protect their software or investments, but that kind of tech is not the solution. From personal experience I have games that I've installed five or six times or more over the years, MAFIA being one example, must of installed and uninstalled that game ten times in the X # of years that I own the game.

I would be highly disappointed as I'm sure many of those Spore customers are if I couldn't install a game that I purchased as many times as I want because other people seek to make an illegal profit. And that other kind of protection is no good either, the kind that requires an internet connection which checks your game every few days to make sure its legit, otherwise it won't work.

Too be frank, I think piracy will never go away, as long as their is a demand and a profit to be made, someone out there is going to find a way to crack a game open and although I'm not saying that nothing should be done about it, I don't think that the consumer should have to pay for companies absurd attempts at trying to solve the situation because obviously fro the image above, it's not working.

I would offer suggestions on how to fix the problem instead only pointing out the problem, but I have no clue how to protect the companies and consumer from piracy, this is something that both the music and movie industry have been trying to deal with for decades and still can't get it done. At least they don't limit the times you can listen to a CD or watch a DVD which was purchased legally.

**Navaros** · 09-09-2008, 07:40

A pirated download is not always equivalent to a lost sale so you can't accurately equate the revenue lost on a formulaic basis like that.

However, with crap like '3 install limit', indeed EA is killing gaming the public market and inspiring those who would normally buy games to pirate download them instead .

It's is very ironic how publishers of PC games often 'blame piracy' for PC gaming being pretty much dead, yet if they didn't kill it in the first place with their 'anti-piracy' DRM horse manure that doesn't even work anyways and just serves to prevent legitmate purchases, then it wouldn't have died.

**CountArach** · 09-09-2008, 07:51

Is EA killing gaming and the public market.

Short Answer: Yes
Long Answer: Yes, and I hate them for it.

**pevergreen** · 09-09-2008, 11:58

Originally Posted by Navaros

A pirated download is not always equivalent to a lost sale so you can't accurately equate the revenue lost on a formulaic basis like that.

Agreed, I have a...*cough* friend *cough* that go M2TW torrented when it came out. He was annoying at the lack of disks and reinstall ease etc, so he went out and bought the game and kingdoms.

Originally Posted by CountArach

Short Answer: Yes
Long Answer: Yes, and I hate them for it.

QFT. My opinion as well.

**Kekvit Irae** · 09-09-2008, 12:10

Screenshots are dangerously close to violating the No Links rule, as anyone with half a brain will figure out where they were from (and I can identify all three). I have no problems with discussions about piracy (so long as it does not promote it), but I'd rather not see anyone unintentionally tip-toeing the line.

**rajpoot** · 09-09-2008, 12:22

It's not right you know, piracy is not, but neither are the copy protection measures these guys are using..........I mean just three times!! And $ 50 for that?! They've got to be kidding! I've got a small HDD, I install and uninstall games every other day, put in some old game, take out some new one, put the new one back in and so on...............I'm just glad I didn't pre-order this game.
And come on EA, the consumers are buying your games, that is why you are still in business, if everyone becomes a pirate what'll you do?! Furthermore, most people know that to make the most of the game one needs to buy it. Online play comes only after purchase, and without it many a games are not half as fun as they can be.

**Husar** · 09-09-2008, 13:19

Awww, what a cute scan you made a picture of there.
I should try piracy if it's that cute.

But uhm, basically you think that EA's management is full of people who lost a son to computer games and came up with an evil scheme to earn millions by running a successful computer games publisher and ruining the industry by releasing bad games which everyone buys...
That's pretty clever, hadn't thought of that one before.

**ArtistofWarfare** · 09-14-2008, 02:46

Originally Posted by CountArach

Short Answer: Yes
Long Answer: Yes, and I hate them for it.

Just my 2 pennies:

EA, before it was a mega-giant in the industry was fantastic. Look at the early 90's Madden titles. It was far, far ahead of it's time.

As soon as some success started rolling in, things changed. Nothing shocking here...unfortunately this is the way of business in our capitalist society today. Money brings power and power brings a false sense of entitlement. EA developed this in the mid-late 90's.

At this point? EA is arguably (doesn't take much of an argument either) the most negative influence on the gaming industry that there is today. The stronghold they have on some of the most successful or highly anticipated titles there are, combined with their low quality, rushed releases, and worst customer service on earth in any industry, leaves us with little option but to watch the quality of gaming as a whole fall off the table.

In fairness, Sega isn't much better. Basically, just like "mom and pop" businesses being driven out all across the United States and replaced with large corporations and foreign investors etc, large corporations driving the smaller developers out (or under their wing) in the gaming industry destroys the intimate and personal relationship that businesses once had with the customer.

I understand bottom line profit increases are the #1 goal of any business. That said, there is a large gray area called "doing the right thing". Not for monetary gains or for a positive "image"...but simply for the purpose of "doing the right thing". I think businesses today who feel that the consumer base is so overly critical and demanding fail to realize that they've created this. If they're going to have linear goals as a company, the customer is going to have linear desires. I firmly believe that a company who is famously known for doing the right thing and standing shoulder to shoulder with the consumer (meeting them halfway), would be judged with a far more open minded and accepting eye. I mean after all - they would deserve it.

Unfortunately, I believe it will be a very cold and snowy day in hell before we see a reverse in the policies of large corporations today. In the gaming industry, in the medical industry - in any industry.

**Veho Nex** · 09-14-2008, 03:27

After reading that I could only think of one company and I hope they become a leader like EA but on the white side not the dark... Stardock games.

**Caius** · 09-11-2008, 21:37

Ea games should be sold at 1$ per copy and you will see how many pirates won't be bothered to do pirates games.

EA should also have GAMERS at their ranks. Not businessman. That's why we are getting the games we are getting.