Sims 3 dropping the nastiness that is DRM

Spore had huge issues with DRM when it was released in 2008, annoying many users with the  number of installs allowed, and the requirement to be authenticated online every ten days. This resulted in a huge user backlash, with 2600 individual reviews giving Spore a one star posted on Amazon.com, and many more speaking out against the use of copy protection in the game.

Because of this, it seems EA has changed its tune on DRM. In fact, they are dropping it completely for what will arguably be one of their biggest PC titles of 2009.

“The game will have disc-based copy protection – there is a Serial Code just like The Sims 2. To play the game there will not be any online authentication needed,” said EA’s executive producer for the Sims division, Rod Humble, on his blog.

“We feel like this is a good, time-proven solution that makes it easy for you to play the game without DRM methods that feel overly invasive or leave you concerned about authorization server access in the distant future.”

Even with the DRM in the game, Spore ended up getting cracked, and then was downloaded over 1,700,000 times on BitTorrent sites. This effectively meant that users who chose to download the game illegally did not have to put up with the sanctions that were supposed to be a hindrance for them.

EA have previosuly announced that Sims 3 will be available on June 2nd.