As I am sure you will all remember, Spore was at the center of quite a fiasco last month when gamers, angry at EA’s continued use of the invasive DRM tool SecuROM, lashed out on Amazon, absolutely trashing it in reviews and giving it an insultingly low rating. Well, with Crysis Warhead coming out and packing that very same DRM, the chicanery is happening all over again.
So far, Crysis Warhead sits at one-and-a-half stars out of five, with 159 of 206 user reviews giving it a one. The reviews are full of warnings about DRM, one likening SecuROM to a computer virus, as the savvy consumers are doing all they can to warn the general public.
This whole thing is turning into a war of attrition between EA and its customers. While Electronic Arts reassures itself with the fact that only a small percentage of the market knows/cares about DRM, it surely can’t be happy with review upon review advertising that which it tries to keep secret. At any rate, the company now knows that this issue isn’t going to simply go away.
I, for one, still find this whole situation fascinating. So often do gamers let companies do what they like out of sheer apathy. It’s encouraging to see some customers take a continued stand for once.
[Thanks, Wardrox]
