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The Chronicles of Riddick DRM Sparks Outcry
by Chris Faylor, Apr 09, 2009 10:22am PDTReports that the PC version of The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena can only be installed three times have sparked another round of outcry from the extremely vocal PC community, though publisher Atari says these reports aren't entirely accurate.
The PC version of Starbreeze's stealthy first-person shooter does indeed have a three-machine install limit, Atari told Shacknews in a statment, but customers can acquire more activations, assuming "it's a legitimate request," by calling the Atari hotline.
"We implement this protection in an effort to avoid early piracy," explained Atari. "The [initial] activation code lets you install the game on up to 3 machines, with an unlimited number of installs on each assuming that you don't change any major hardware in your PC or re-install your operating system."
Concerns arose earlier in the month after an Atari Forums post, citing PC Gamer, claimed that the DRM was non-revocable. This led many to believe that a copy of the PC game could only ever be installed three times, with no chance of recovery after that.
In response, Amazon.com was flooded with negative reviews and one-star ratings for the game. One review claimed that "DRM restrictions have left this game unplayable," adding "it isn't even any good." Another was titled "3 Installs: Piracy wins again".
Machine-based activation limits are nothing new in the land of PC DRM. Far Cry 2, Spore, Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box, Crysis Warhead, Dead Space and many other titles have used this particular technique in an attempt to restrict piracy.
Typically, legitimate owners can either revoke past installs or call customer support for assistance if they find themselves hampered by the limit.
An enhanced remake of The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (PC, Xbox) with an entirely new campaign and the addition of multiplayer, Dark Athena (PC, PS3, X360) launched in North America this week, and arrives in Europe on April 24.
Thanks to everyone that sent this in.
Comments
This is exactly like Mass Effect all over again for me, I was looking forward to the PC release of that for so long, but ended up not buying it due to the DRM, I waited for it to hit steam. I can wait for this to have a patch/tool released before I buy it as well, though this is also something I've been really really looking forward for a long time. Steams has found a good balance of DRM I and most people can live with, I'll buy it in a heartbeat if it's put on there without the additional activation limit.
It's the poinlessness of it that bothers me the most; It's going to be cracked, widely distributed and enjoyed by pirates long before legitimate (in terms of actually wanting to pay for it) fans get around to buying it, and by that point it'll be discounted and dev will make even less, and that's on top of what they're paying the DRM supplier. I'm almost tempted to buy it on PS3 instead, but then that's another datapoint in the "PC gaming isn't profitable" reports. Only one being screwed by this is the dev themselves. :(
What are PC gaming fans supposed to do? If we don't buy it we're over-reacting paranoid faggots and might be screwing the devs, if we do buy it as-is we're letting them know they can get away with pointless DRM, if we pirate it we're legitimizing their need for the DRM and other scare tactics in the first place :(
GOD DAMNIT.
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