Mass Effect PC authentication changed

By Robert Purchese Published 12 May, 2008

Now a one-time thing.

BioWare has decided it will now only ask for online authentication when you install your PC copy of Mass Effect or download additional content for the game.

It was responding to the apparent outcry that erupted after it revealed SecuROM copy protection would be included and demand online key validation every 10 days.

"BioWare has always listened very closely to its fans and we made this decision to ensure we are delivering the best possible experience to them," said Jay Waramaniuk, BioWare community manager, on the official forums.

"To all the fans including our many friends in the armed services and internationally who expressed concerns that they would not be able re-authenticate as often as required, EA and BioWare want you to know that your feedback is important to us." Hoo-ah!

Mass Effect PC will continue to be playable without the disc in the drive, and can be installed on up to three separate computers.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (33) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Sir_TimAlot #1 4 years ago

    haha

  • JonFE #2 4 years ago

    Apparently a similar protection scheme will be used for Spore as well, if reports are correct.

    Good decision I say. There's something wrong when you treat your customers like potential criminals, whereas those pirating your games enjoy a hassle-free ride.

  • alimokrane #3 4 years ago

    What were you expecting ? Bioware is EA now .....

  • bad09 #4 4 years ago

    Good for them! Now I recommend all PC owners to check out ME it's a great game!

    Bioware has many friends in the armed services? Are they planning a coup d’état at EA?
    Edited by 1 at 12/05/08 @ 08:46

  • MaxiSleep #5 4 years ago

    Just a quick note to those who supported the drm on previous threads.


    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

  • JonFE #6 4 years ago

    MaxiSleep, I would assume most of them support the right of the developers to protect their hard work/investment, not DRM per se.
    Edited by 1 at 12/05/08 @ 08:59

  • Metalfish #7 4 years ago

    Isn't this now the level of DRM that many felt was appropriate? It's certainly no worse than steam in the inconvience stakes now.

  • MaxiSleep #8 4 years ago

    "MaxiSleep, I would assume most of them support the right of the developers to protect their hard work/investment, not DRM per se."

    Of course developers have a right to protect software, where the previous implementation went wrong was that it was interfering with my right to enjoy the product/service which I paid for. And to those who say "dont buy it then" my considered response is "Ya Boo" .

  • JonFE #9 4 years ago

    No argument there, as you can see from my first comment on this news article...

  • skillian #10 4 years ago

    Good news.

    It makes you wonder though, did they really not expect the sort of response that they got? I'm surprised they caved so easily.

  • superdelphinus #11 4 years ago

    Woolmington v DPP

  • robg #12 4 years ago

    The 8 remaining people who don't have internet access although they do play PC games *are* extremely capable lobbyists, I'll give them that.

  • penhalion #13 4 years ago

    10 day key authentication would have made this a massive target for hackers. It is simply un-acceptable to ask someone to prove they own your software more than once. If they buy it and authenticate it, then they have it legally. That is unlikely to have changed 10 days later is it!

  • fingersthebeaver #14 4 years ago

    @pen
    depends really if reactivation is a 2 hour process and file decode then yes it is unacceptable, if it is a two second send your key get an ok that you don't notice while its loading then I don't see that as an intrusive method of controling access to the game.
    Edited by 1 at 12/05/08 @ 09:47

  • Rirekon #15 4 years ago

    Mmmmm, damn that free advertising must taste good huh BioWare?

  • Darren #16 4 years ago

    It was stupid anyway... let's face it if people want to play a pirated version of Mass Effect then I'm sure they'll be able to just days after it's released so no amount of protection will prevent that. All it'll do is annoy the legitimate owners who went out and bought a copy.

  • Ravenger #17 4 years ago

    The main issue is still there - max 3 installs, with no guarantee that you can get more. There's been no word from EA as to how you can get more activations if you use all yours up. I'm not worried about installing on multiple machines, in fact I'd be happy if you could install it on only one PC at a time. I just don't want to have to go beg EA for activations if mine get used up from installing/uninstalling the game over a long period of time.

  • chrisjm #18 4 years ago

    "If they buy it and authenticate it, then they have it legally. That is unlikely to have changed 10 days later is it! "

    true, but if someone doesnt buy it and uses a hack, in 10 days the hack might be detectable and your stolen game would be disabled. but the obvious thing would be the hacked version would disable this online check rather than fool the authentication. so yes its pretty pointless.

  • thewolfiv #19 4 years ago

    idiots with the DRM, what does this change? hackers had a patch out for gears of war on pc 2 days after it's release- you didn't even need to log online. reduce the price of your games and make profit from the mass sales, it works for Mcdonalds....

  • ianegg #20 4 years ago

    I agree wityh thewolfiv. Ignore piracy and make more profit by making the games cheap and more convenient to buy than pirate, plus offer rewards for those who did buy it. (eg. SoaSE) Giving pirates the option to pay for the game to receive the benefits would be a good idea too.

  • Widge #21 4 years ago

    This and Lost Oddessey (well, and Halo 3 to a "I want to finish the story" extent) are the two 360 games I really want to try, so looking forward to the PC release, also rather chufty that my laptop is beefy enough to handle it! Massive fingers crossed that it doesn't turn out anything like KOTOR.

    Hoping Lost Oddessey makes the move too.

  • hiddenranbir #22 4 years ago

    A small step in the right direction.

    Obviously there were a LOT of cancelled pre-orders.

    It is still securom though. Won't have that disgusting thing infecting my PC.

  • bad09 #23 4 years ago

    "I agree wityh thewolfiv. Ignore piracy and make more profit by making the games cheap and more convenient to buy than pirate, plus offer rewards for those who did buy it. (eg. SoaSE) Giving pirates the option to pay for the game to receive the benefits would be a good idea too."

    Problem is companies assume that if they stamp out piracy sales (therefore profit) will increase. This of course would happen in a small way but of all the people I have met over the years that did pirate games/music/movies it was because of the cost, not because they refuse to pay but because they can't.

    Make it cheaper sell more, the most effective way to combat piracy. DRM just pushes people away.

  • JDT_JDT #24 4 years ago

    Still only 3 installs - classic example of making consumers think they have won something in order to slip in something else almost as bad. Not buying anything I can't use after the developer goes bust, or just decides I can't use it any more.

    I don't mind authenticating for updates or extra content, but I want to be able to install my game in 5 years time without any hassle, otherwise it isn't worth more than £10 to me.

  • Rudrick #25 4 years ago

    Only 3 installs! for 4. time must call EA suport.They treating legal customers like criminals.Ilegal software industry respecting own customers.My preorder is still canceled.

  • Ryuken #26 4 years ago

    "It is still securom though. Won't have that disgusting thing infecting my PC. "

    So, you're passing out on pretty much every American AAA PC title of the last few years, except for the Stardock titles? I am not advocating SecuROM by any means (although it has yet to blow up my DVD-drive or PC) but to boycot games because they use a certain copy protection is hardly gonna hurt the publishers who decide on these matters. The developers though, they'll get hit for sure and they have barely anything to say about copy protection on "their" titles.

    EDIT: the installs are for three different PC's, apparently you can install/reinstall as much you like on a single machine.
    Edited by 1 at 12/05/08 @ 12:20

  • canuter #27 4 years ago

    My opinion is that everything was orchestrated. They proposed a totally intolerable protection to then tune it down a bit to an simply unacceptable one.
    The final protection iss more restrictive than the one on Bioshock.
    I haven't changed my mind, I still won't buy it.
    Edited by 2 at 12/05/08 @ 15:12

  • djed #28 4 years ago

    if you threaten with inserting the whole fist, customers will feel victorious when you settle for three fingers.

  • YourMessageHere #29 4 years ago

    This is much better, in the same way 10 is much nearer to 100 than 1 is. Maybe it was planned and maybe not, that's largely unimportant, what matters is that they're not doing the really stupid thing they originally threatened to do and they at least begin to acknowledge the concerns of their customers over this issue. I don't really have a huge problem with this, I'm not delighted but I may now buy it and there's no way I would have previously. I can forsee what happened with authentication when Bioshock was out happening all over again. Still wish EA would pack this EA Link shite in and use Steam to distribute all their PC titles online alongside boxed copies in the shops, though.

    EDIT: Though it is a good and easily overlooked point by non-military people , I love the implications behind the reference to armed services personnel (i.e. aside from the implied possibility they sit around playing games all day rather than doing soldiering). Support our troops, say no to DRM! Authentication checks help terrorism! etc.
    Edited by 1 at 12/05/08 @ 18:56

  • Feanor #30 4 years ago

    "The 8 remaining people who don't have internet access although they do play PC games *are* extremely capable lobbyists, I'll give them that."

    Wow, you really just don't get it. Read the post below yours and try and educate yourself as to why the proposed DRM for Mass Effect was so dangerous to legitimate paying customers.

  • DAL9000 #31 4 years ago

    @ Rudrick

    "Only 3 installs! for 4. time must call EA suport.They treating legal customers like criminals.Ilegal software industry respecting own customers.My preorder is still canceled."

    Uh, seriously? Do you plan on needing more than one install? Why would you need three? Are you just looking for an excuse to pirate it, now? (And, yes, yes, people get new computers. /I/ get new computers on a fairly regular basis since I have a bad habit of breaking mine -- laptops + cords lying near the chair + clumsy David = many computers violently yanked to the floor. However...)

    HOWEVER... I honestly don't understand how a game that: 1) authenticates your CD code /once/ and one time only; 2) lets you install it three times (on three different machines if you like), and 3) lets you play it without the disk in the drive (which means you can buy one copy and GIVE IT TO TWO DIFFERENT FRIENDS if so inclined) is "treating you like a criminal." Am I missing something, or are you all just pissed that there's ANY copy protection at all?

  • Ravenger #32 4 years ago

    @DAL9000

    The problem is that's 3 installs EVER, and there doesn't seem to be a way currently to free up any existing installs.

    I've re-installed some of my favourite games dozens of times over the years. I like being able to re-install a game I've bought without having to go cap in hand to the publisher and beg them for permission.

  • Rudrick #33 4 years ago

    @Dal9000 HOWEVER... I honestly don't understand how a game that: 1) authenticates your CD code /once/ and one time only; 2) lets you install it three times (on three different machines if you like), and 3) lets you play it without the disk in the drive (which means you can buy one copy and GIVE IT TO TWO DIFFERENT FRIENDS if so inclined) is "treating you like a criminal." Am I missing something, or are you all just pissed that there's ANY copy protection at all?


    I am buying Homeworld in 1999, I am change 3 time pc. I was playing on all my new pc long time that game,and still playing becouse I love Homeworld.On next pc I'll install that game and play too.
    Mass Effect is great game and I wish play that game in next years on my every new pc.I am ready pay full price for owning game,not for resticted renting.
    Edited by 1 at 13/05/08 @ 10:11