Hello,

As you know, Dead Space is launching this week, and we?re all very excited. The team has worked very hard over the past couple years in an effort to bring you one of the most exciting games being released this year. Dead Space is an original horror title from EA that has captured the minds of gamers worldwide with its stunning visuals, spine-tingling gameplay and horrifying creatures. Set five hundred years in the future, Isaac Clarke, a normal systems engineer sent with a small repair team to restore communications on the USG Ishimura. When he arrives he finds that the ship is a living nightmare and a simple repair mission is now one of survival.

We are writing this letter to our community today to clear the air about our DRM on the PC version of the game, and to explain what you can expect when the game ships.


DRM: The reasons we need it

Software piracy is a really big deal for the developers of PC games. We work for years making games we hope people will truly enjoy. As you can imagine, it is very hard to see one?s work pirated after all you?ve invested into making it.

The bottom line in that our DRM policy is essential to the economic structure we use to fund our games and as well as to the rights of people who create them. Without the ability to protect our work from piracy, developers across the entire game industry will eventually stop investing time and money in PC titles.


No disc required

One of the best things about this new method of copy protection is that you will not need the DVD in your computer in order to play the game. Install the game on your machine and then put the disc away for back up ? you won?t need it again unless you want to install it on another machine. If you are like us, misplacing losing discs, this is a great feature.


Computer activations

Dead Space will be playable (activated) on up to five authorized machines simultaneously. What is an authorization? The first time you run the game on a new computer, we will authorize that machine and up to a total of five machines. This is very similar to what other commercial software applications, like iTunes do.

If you already have the game running on five machines, but would like to add the game to a sixth computer, you have options. EA customer support is on hand for cases in which gamers need to authorize more computers.


Why five machines?

By examining previous EA PC game data, we have found that 75 percent of our consumers install and play any particular game on only one machine and less than 1 percent ever try to play on more than three different machines. Based on that, we figured that giving gamers five machines to play the game on would be more than satisfactory.

If you make major changes to the machine (switching out multiple pieces of hardware, reinstalling your OS, etc.) or if you have a run of bad luck, some hardware failures, a botched OS install, your notebook was stolen ? you get the idea ? and all five of your authorizations have been used up, give us a call. We?ll work with you and get you the additional authorizations that are appropriate.


DRM in the future

We all like to know that if we invest in a game today, we will be able to play it years into the future. If you?re worried about your ability to play the game down the line, we will have a solution for that too. Once the game has lived its natural life and the risk for piracy had died down, we plan to patch our copy protection out of Dead Space.

The bottom line is that we will never make it impossible for you to play a game that you paid for, even is that is years from now.


The big picture

We really cannot stress this enough -- we are not trying to make this experience a negative one for you. We are looking to implement a solution that gives gamers a good experience, while also protecting our hard work.

We know that some of you may disagree with this approach, and again, we understand where you?re coming from and really do respect your position. The development team is extremely proud of Dead Space and we want all of you to have the chance to experience it for yourself.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this today and we hope you enjoy Dead Space!


Regards,

The Dead Space Team

DRM in the future

We all like to know that if we invest in a game today, we will be able to play it years into the future. If you?re worried about your ability to play the game down the line, we will have a solution for that too. Once the game has lived its natural life and the risk for piracy had died down, we plan to patch our copy protection out of Dead Space.

The bottom line is that we will never make it impossible for you to play a game that you paid for, even is that is years from now.


THANK YOU SO MUCH ;___;

i'd been waiting to hear this, and you guys didn't disappoint. if DRM means the PC will still gets titles like Dead Space, i'll just grin and bear it.

The "drm in the future" policies is not new also. Great games have been patched to disable the cd check. The difference is that these new systems they have to day don't require you to have a dvd in the drive to begin with. Somehow it's even more convenient than the console version .

I've got 4 games with securom current generation installed and thres no single one that has any trouble. I'm sure the scares will come from dead space also and not from the c/p

I knew that Dead Space's PC version would get proper DRM treatment. Thanks for sharing!

Awesome, guys! While this problem never awoke any fear in me (primarily because I have ordered a 360 copy xD), it is still nice to see you reach out to your community and speak to them levelheaded.

If the EA customer service is as helpful as it should be, I would see no reason to complain about this issue at all.

You are probably gong to be flamed about questions on the PC control issue in a moment, though. Life's a bitch, huh?

DRM: The reasons we need it

Software piracy is a really big deal for the developers of PC games. We work for years making games we hope people will truly enjoy. As you can imagine, it is very hard to see one?s work pirated after all you? ve invested into making it.

The bottom line in that our DRM policy is essential to the economic structure we use to fund our games and as well as to the rights of people who create them. Without the ability to protect our work from piracy, developers across the entire game industry will eventually stop investing time and money in PC titles.

I don't support piracy, but please, please somebody explain to me how DRM actually stops or even hampers piracy? The game will be cracked and available for download within days of release (at the latest) by pirate-crackers and pirate-users will not have to do anything at all other than download the game. In fact, they will have a superior copy of the game that is DRM free and does not have to deal with install limits or activations.

Given the above, please, please can somebody from EA clue me in, as to how this DRM system actually helps fight piracy, rather than merely inconveniencing the legitimate users who actually bought the game?

DRM in the future

We all like to know that if we invest in a game today, we will be able to play it years into the future. If you?re worried about your ability to play the game down the line, we will have a solution for that too. Once the game has lived its natural life and the risk for piracy had died down, we plan to patch our copy protection out of Dead Space.

This is a decent start, since it is my primary problem with the Draconian DRM (DDRM) that has recently began appearing on EA's games. However, given how EA has treated the matter in the past and the amount of ill will it generated with the DRM, I am afraid my trust is thin on this issue. If you provided some auto-expiry mechanism for the DDRM (that was not dependent on going online or otherwise dependent on what EA might or might not decide to do in the future), so that it would require no further action from EA for the DDRM to expire I would have been sold, but as it stands I am afraid I will wait until the actual no-DDRM patches materialize before buying games that have Draconian DRM. After all, what if EA changes its mind, or decides to allocate its resources elsewhere rather than on patching years-old games from which little more profit can be derived, or it goes bankrupt or enters financial difficulties (oh yes, a firm in financial difficulties is so likely to work on patches for its entire library-backlog of games with DDRM just so that players can play them indefinitely...).

> DRM: The reasons we need it
>
> Software piracy is a really big deal for the
> developers of PC games. We work for years making
> games we hope people will truly enjoy. As you can
> imagine, it is very hard to see one?s work pirated
> after all you?ve invested into making it.
>
> The bottom line in that our DRM policy is essential
> to the economic structure we use to fund our games
> and as well as to the rights of people who create
> them. Without the ability to protect our work from
> piracy, developers across the entire game industry
> will eventually stop investing time and money in PC
> titles.

I registered just to ask this: can you explain how you think this is effective? Because it has not worked, ever, for any game yet and only serves to upset and alienate a portion of your potential customer base. It does absolutely nothing to curb, stop, or deter piracy.

I was interested in this title, but will now pass due to this DRM. So far, I've passed on Mass Effect, Spore, and now this solely due to the DRM being used on these games. So can you please explain how this is good for EA's bottom line, when legitimate customers are willing to pass on your games but the pirates are still playing them for free? Because I'm not seeing it.


> DRM in the future
>
> We all like to know that if we invest in a game
> today, we will be able to play it years into the
> future. If you?re worried about your ability to play
> the game down the line, we will have a solution for
> that too. Once the game has lived its natural life
> and the risk for piracy had died down, we plan to
> patch our copy protection out of Dead Space.
>
> The bottom line is that we will never make it
> impossible for you to play a game that you paid for,
> even is that is years from now.


This is nice. I'll buy the game when this happens (which means it will probably be in the bargain bin. That's a double win for me, but I don't know if it's going to do much for you guys).


> The big picture
>
> We really cannot stress this enough -- we are not
> trying to make this experience a negative one for
> you. We are looking to implement a solution that
> gives gamers a good experience, while also protecting
> our hard work.


Again, how does it do this? It's certainly not stopping piracy, so I fail to see exactly what it's protecting.


> We know that some of you may disagree with this
> approach, and again, we understand where you?re
> coming from and really do respect your position. The
> development team is extremely proud of Dead Space and
> we want all of you to have the chance to experience
> it for yourself.
>
> Thank you very much for taking the time to read this
> today and we hope you enjoy Dead Space!

Unfortunately, I won't be. I wish you guys the best of luck with the game, as it looks pretty cool. I appreciate that you respect our position, but I wonder if you guys truly understand it. After dealing with this nightmare 'protection' system on BioShock, I'll never buy a game that uses it again. Fool me once...

Message was edited by: Eurypterid (EA Id)

In the light of what the previous poster (post number 7) said, I would also like to add to my post (number 6) that I too will probably buy some of these games with Draconian DRM (DDRM) after the patches are released that get rid of it, but not before. Once I buy a game, I want to be able to play it years later, without having to rely on the possibility that there will be a patch (what if the company changes its mind, or goes bankrupt, or enters financial difficulties, or just 'forgets' about patching the huge number of games in its library, or... - for those reasons only auto-expiry on the DDRM scheme would make me willing to buy it even before the DDRM expires).

Another EA game I won't be getting due to DRM. Sorry, guys, but I trust EA about as far as I can throw my car. When a corporation starts asking me to trust them, it means I need to do the exact opposite.

If you really mean what you say, that you will never make it impossible for me to play my games no matter what, then change the EULA. Right now, if you use an EULA like that in SPORE or Mass Effect, you have the "legal" right to shut down the servers for any and all customers at any time. For any reason. With no warning or cause. I have a hard time believing that would be written into the agreement unless it was intended to be used someday. Tell me, why should I trust you again? You say one thing here, another thing elsewhere, and I'm just supposed to ignore that? Sorry, didn't take my stupid pills this morning.

I'm not going for this. This DRM is unfriendly, draconian and in some countries, completely illegal. EA is already getting sued over SecuROM and its possible effects on the first sale doctrine. I won't buy from a company that treats me with such little respect. I am not a sheep like so many others in this forum, I have some pretty strict standards on how I WILL be treated by merchants I deal with. Actually, I'd like to say something a bit ruder regarding exactly where you can shove your games and your DRM, but I don't want to be crude, ore more importantly, banned. My money has to be earned, and you have a lot of competition for my dollar.

DRM: The reasons we need it

Software piracy is a really big deal for the developers of PC games. We work for years making games we hope people will truly enjoy. As you can imagine, it is very hard to see one?s work pirated after all you?ve invested into making it.

The bottom line in that our DRM policy is essential to the economic structure we use to fund our games and as well as to the rights of people who create them. Without the ability to protect our work from piracy, developers across the entire game industry will eventually stop investing time and money in PC titles.

That really cracked me up the fact that everyone knows that DRM is a obsolete protection system that is easily cracked by pirates but hey if like losing honest customers thats your call.

1. This DRM does not deter pirates, at the most a few days to crack. If you feel justified in spending all that money to go right ahead. Other companies use far less or no DRM and do just fine with sales. You are just adding to the development costs?big time. (Not to mention lost sales due to it)

2. Trust ? it works both ways. When EA prints in the EULA and manual it will patch out all DRM in its games so customers can play a game they paid for years from now that might be a plus to those on the fence about buying rather than *renting* a game. Written guarantee?s is the name of this game here.

3. More on trust with EA?s questionable marketing practices ? When you all fix the *error* that appeared in Mass Effect and Spore that tells people to buy another activation when they run out you might look better without all that egg on the face. Or ?maybe it wasn?t an error since your games keep shipping with that so maybe we were misled?That is the nice term.

4. More on questionable marketing ? Update your packaging to more than just Internet required, please be truthful with consumers. Be sure it?s marked on the boxes this game requires online activations, limited activations and a toll call to possibly get more with no guarantee you will. Don?t forget Securerom 7.xx

5. Having no DVD in drive is nothing new; many companies long past and not so long ago have released games with no cd/dvd in drive or no copy protection at all. I can?t believe you think this is something new to boast about.

6. List what is appropriate to get another activation once one does jump and buys an EA game and calls customer service. All this cloak and dagger secrecy is not proper or good marketing practices for a large game publisher like EA.

7. Pour some money into your support department. EA long ago said they were trying to improve your imagine. Your customer support has always been abysmal and even after the promise support and the activations servers would be up to par for Mass Effect and Spore?they were not. For pity?s sake at least get it straight what constitutes enough of a hardware change for the DRM to need reactivation. Ask the question 100 times and get 100 different answers. I still cannot believe a company would put out a product with *value added software* and not know how it works!

8. Have a working uninstaller for the DRM that uninstalls the DRM *completely* after the game is uninstalled. It is so difficult to remove the new secruerom for most people the only option is to format the hard drive.

9. Choices ? It would be nice if those that don?t mind the DVD in drive of they could avoid online activations. I can?t imagine the look on a parents face when the youngster has to reactivate 100 of his/her games and the phone bill comes in. Not to mention the time to sit on the phone to re-activate all games due to hardware upgrades/os wipes.

I know EA plans to go to an online revenue model so you can get constant fee?s from consumers on the games they buy much like MMO?s even if it?s a single player game and phase out all box sales to online sales only however you were not ready for it in the least.

Also please stop labeling those that complain or refuse to buy a game as pirates. EA?s top brass doing this tends to leave more bitterness on those consumers with half a brain and it?s not good for your imagine.

PC gamers tend to upgrade and tweak constantly and as such your games become unplayable sometimes within a week! (Or not playable at all if the person has trouble installing an EA game). All those poor people with shiny coasters called Mass Effect were enough of a wake up call for some.

Frankly I feel sorry for all the developers under EA?s wing that have to tow the company line. It?s not good for your wonderful games to be treated like this and it will hurt sales so much in the long run the PC platform will not be feasible. Maybe that?s the plan, go to EA Console brand only in the future, but it?s a terrible transition so far either way.

Good luck with your game, sadly I can?t purchase it in stated condition. It seems all EA games are on my do not buy list from now on. Sigh

I've stated this before and I'll do it again with another EA title. PC always gets the bad rap but this current DRM most are using actually PROMOTES what your trying to protect. One person goes and buys a copy from the store of whatever game and I guarantee you a high percentage of those buyers will share one or all five with friends or family members outside the home.

The PC is always blamed for piracy when there is an even bigger problem with consoles. Console games come out before PC games do that are cracked 95% of the time now, just take a look around and you will see. PSP, Wii, PS3, xbox360, they are all spread all over a lot more than PC games. People can just rent a game from a video store and copy it, costs them $5 to $8 for a rental now? Maybe its because of all these rental stores that you think your still making big sales in consoles because they buy a bunch of each title to rent out.

Consoles have passed by PC in the last years for being pirated first, I don't get why PC users get shafted so badly for it now and have to take all this DRM crap.

Okay, just curious, why the hell are so many of you guys so certain that you will install a game more then 5 times?
I rarely install a game more then twice.

Also, I'm afraid EA can't do anything about console hardware criminals now, can they?

ironicly those complaints only came when they were mentioned explicitly. With spore, 3 activations were enough to make ppl say 'i won't buy it'. Now it's with 5 installes. Honestly I think it will never be enough

It won't be. Limited activations is a complete show stopper. On-line activation of a single player game is a complete show stopper. As well, that's not the only issue. There are serious issues with SecuROM itself in how it behaves and what it does on your system. It's an absolutely unacceptable copy protection system in its current form. And really, it's doing nothing towards its stated purpose of stopping piracy, so all it does is serve to be an inconvenience, worry, and annoyance to those that actually buy the games.