Spore: The most pirated game ever

[Kayos]

First off I'd like to state that any discussion about you personally pirating/links to pirated material/etc will cause you to get an infraction/ban. Please refrain from discussing anything that you may have done that can be considered against the TOS of this site and the rules of this forum.

Spore most pirated game ever

EA's Spore has broken all previous records to become the most pirated game ever, with over 500,000 pirated copies being downloaded within the first ten days of the title's release.

Since its release in September, the Sim-everything title has been downloaded 1.7 million times, according to research done by Torrentfreak.

Spore sparked consumer outrage with its implementation of restrictive SecuROM DRM. The system limited consumers to a maximum of three installations before being required to call a customer service number for approval for additional installs.

However, Spore went on to be a commercial success topping the PC charts with around 1 million units sold in its first month.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/spore-most-pirated-game-ever

1.7 million downloads is quite a bit of loss. In Spores case I think it extends more toward the DRM choice they've made a long with other factors that might have not warranted a purchase by the general public.

So, what are your guys view on why this game has been pirated so much?

 

[Livewire]

The activation limit's the problem, 'nuff said right there. Without disclosing my sources, but they do in fact exist and some of us users may very well know where I'm getting my info, but it's not uncommon for someone to buy the game then promptly pirate it just to get around the freakin' activation limit.


I just don't like buying something then being told I get to install it 3 times. It's like they've never had to reformat to clear a virus, or to reformat just to get the OS back to a runs-well state. Stupid type of DRM since it's usually broken by pirates within days anyways.

 

[Repneiras]

I actually don't have Spore yet (and haven't "acquired" it either, in case you were curious), although I think I'm going to get it for Christmas :tongue:

Anyways, I have three working computers, and I'm planning on installing it on all of them, which would be really annoying if I had to reformat one of them and suddenly be told that my CD key might be incorrect or that I have to send another few dollars their way

Hehe, yeah, DRMs are broken within days (or months at least). I remember hearing that there were a few groups of people who found a way to unlock the iPhone a few weeks after release and were selling the cracks for $50 in Australia (although this info could be wrong because it was a while ago).

I am an avid torrenter though, but only download legal stuff, like free to play game clients or machinima (if it is illegal in some cases and infraction worthy on these forums, I get them from the machinima.com channel on Vuze).

-Repneiras

 

[admael]

It's hard to say if those downloads were actually losses. There are people who actually buy the game, or support the title and still download a copy where the DRM is removed. (You still have deal with the limited 3-time installation but atleast no secuROM is installed, right?)

 

[Livewire]

You still have deal with the limited 3-time installation but atleast no secuROM is installed, right?

Without coming off as a jerk, if I'm not mistaken you're wrong on both counts.

The activation limit gets destroyed by the pirates in the same way secuROM gets destroyed - it bypasses it. secuROM is still installed because that gets installed with the game. The pirates include extra files/directions to bypass the rest of it, like a car radar detector - the cops are still there, you're just going around them.



And now you can probably figure out why Spore's the most pirated game ever - legit gamers getting frustrated that their activation limit gets hit, and EA decides not to help. Of course they're going to pirate it, they freakin BOUGHT the game and now they're being told they can't use it because they hit the activation limit and it might be a pirated copy blah blah blah blah blah.

EA wouldn't be able to tell if it's a pirated copy. Why? The pirates wouldn't need to call them to ask if they can get the activation limit increased - they bypass it entirely.



I can't comprehend what EA was doing here. I just can't. So I'm going to go lie down instead.

 

[Spartan Erik]

Yeah I've essentially boycotted all EA games from this point on. I want my PC SecuROM rootkit free. Because of SecuROM I'm not playing releases like Crysis Warhead, Far Cry 2, and Left 4 Dead (unless I get it via Steam)

 

[Smith6612]

Well, it was all because of the DRM. Sure, DRM is on a load of games to prevent you from copying them, but just like every other EA game out there, it's that activation limit that is making people not pay for the game. That's one thing EA needs to learn. Sure, they make great games and there's no stopping the pirates really, but to screw over the PC industry like that which is probably one of the biggest industries out there anyways, and the most active especially in the modding community, is just out of my mind.

 

[Macaws]

Im not in for the DRM, I would probably have to install it on 20 computers, since mine keep crashing.

 

[oddsam91]

Wasn't the world a better place when Anti-Pirating devices consisted of: By installing this software you promise on the grave of your grandmother that you obtained this legally.

I mean it would be so much easier on everyone if there weren't any security devices in games, music, and what not. Pirates would still get their media, gamers would be less restricted, the gaming industry would be more productive. Instead of a large portion of limited space taken up by security measures, why not use it for actual game play.

 

[Livewire]

Wasn't the world a better place when Anti-Pirating devices consisted of: By installing this software you promise on the grave of your grandmother that you obtained this legally.

I mean it would be so much easier on everyone if there weren't any security devices in games, music, and what not. Pirates would still get their media, gamers would be less restricted, the gaming industry would be more productive. Instead of a large portion of limited space taken up by security measures, why not use it for actual game play.

Um, not sure where you got the 'limited space' thing from; by my rough estimates securom is BARELY anything on the disc, compared to the game itself. Maybe 5mb.

And if 5mb's too much for the 'limited space' available, which on most discs is now either 700mb or 4.7gb or larger still, or if it's too much for the pc you're putting it on, then you're probably more worried about the game itself fitting on the drive instead of the 5mb copy protection


My rough estimate's just me doing a highlight-properties on a few dlls I don't have being accessed on a game I had to bypass - my dvd drive can't read the copy protection on the original disc -_-'. I'm guessing the dlls that aren't being used are part of the copy protection. The names are confusing too



Edit: Oh, and I think the copy/protections less for the pirates, and more for stopping Joe Schmo from creating a copy for Jane Schmo to lan-party with across the house. Heaven knows people did that right and left with cd's before the copy protection, now they've just moved on to snagging the digital copies if they know where to go.

If they don't they snag them anyways but get viruses too >_<

 

[Spartan Erik]

Well, it was all because of the DRM. Sure, DRM is on a load of games to prevent you from copying them, but just like every other EA game out there, it's that activation limit that is making people not pay for the game.

Well SecuROM doesn't just prevent copying but other legit functions as well.. imagine being unable to mount ISO's with Daemon Tools (and I do that quite frequently)

 

[Triffid]

The most over hyped game ever.


It fails.

 

[Smith6612]

Well SecuROM doesn't just prevent copying but other legit functions as well.. imagine being unable to mount ISO's with Daemon Tools (and I do that quite frequently)

I've been able to mount self-made ISOs of my damaged game disks with Daemon Tools before, and they used SecuROM. However the game was back from 1998 so it was probably not a very well protected disk, plus the fact that it was damaged might have corrupted something. However the game itself was intact and I could play from the ISO without an issue. But I know about SecuROM completely. It messed up my old gaming computer, forcing me to reformat it and I had nothing illegal/bad on there. On my new gaming computer, I've avoided SecuROM so far and I'm in the middle of working on seeing if I can block SecuROM from installing itself at all. I know for a fact that Vista really messes it up by denying it access to my system shell/kernel.

 

[kkenny]

Well SecuROM doesn't just prevent copying but other legit functions as well.. imagine being unable to mount ISO's with Daemon Tools (and I do that quite frequently)

I think it's just more of an annoyance to the people trying to pirate rather than something preventing pirating all together.

 

[XCTBru]

Also the game wasn't even that fun, they basically cut out most of the features so that they could make an expansion pack or something. Frankly, I was dissapointed with this game, it could have been a lot better.

 

[Coldfirezz]

If the game on the PC is as bad as it was for the iPod Touch. Well ya....It just downright sucked.