SecuROM: Difference between revisions

[[wikipedia:SecuROM|'''SecuROM''']] is a [[digital rights management]] (DRM) system developed by [[Sony]] for PC games and first released in 1998.<ref>{{Cite web |title=SecuROM |url=https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/SecuROM |url-status=live |access-date=16 Mar 2025 |website=[[PCGamingWiki]]}}</ref> Historically, SecuROM is well known for being the most agitating form of DRM of the 2000s, and its inclusion within [[Electronic Arts]]' ''Spore'' has led to the game retaining its position as the most pirated game to-date.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Van der Sar |first=Ernesto |date=13 Sep 2008 |title=Spore: Most Pirated Game Ever Thanks to DRM |url=https://torrentfreak.com/spore-most-pirated-game-ever-thanks-to-drm-080913/ |url-status=live |access-date=16 Mar 2025 |website=[[torrentfreak]]}}</ref> SecuROM stopped being supported by Sony quietly some time after 2017, the release date of the last SecuROM-protected title, [https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Onyx Onyx]. In 2014, SecuROM was succeeded by a newer DRM system, [[Denuvo]], through a management buyout of its developer.

Users who owned SecuROM-protected games would often be allotted a limited number of times that they can install their games. [[EA]]'s ''[[Spore]]'' had a limit of 3 installs (raised to 5), ''Bioshock'' had 2 (raised to 5, before being removed) and would even limit installs per user on the same device,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chan |first=Leo |date=5 Sep 2007 |title=One copy of BioShock per family (member)? |url=https://www.neoseeker.com/news/7091-one-copy-of-bioshock-per-family-member/ |url-status=live |access-date=16 Mar 2025 |website=[[NeoSeeker]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=5 Sep 2005 |title=2K: Tell your brother to buy his own Bioshock, you didn't buy it for the whole family |url=http://maxconsole.net/?mode=news&newsid=20470 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013211034/http://maxconsole.net/?mode=news&newsid=20470 |archive-date=13 Oct 2007 |access-date=16 Mar 2025 |website=[[MaxConsole]]}}</ref> and Mass Effect had 3, but uninstallations would not increase the number of installs unlike other SecuROM titles.

I am prepared to document EA's fuck-up on the wiki whenever secu-rom finally fails on my legitimate copy of Crysis. Oh, and C&C3. --> cannot function on modern hardware without cracking or other means of circumvention.<ref>{{Cite web |title=SecuROM |url=https://www.legoisland.org/wiki/SecuROM |url-status=live |access-date=16 Mar 2025 |website=[[LegoIsland]]}}</ref>

|The application of SecuROM in ''Spore'' left the program trapped under always-online DRM<ref>{{Cite web |last=Modern Vintage Gamer |date=25 Nov 2019 |title=SecuROM - The PC CD-ROM DRM that broke games {{!}} MVG |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8ltfyqD3lM |url-status=live |access-date=16 Mar 2025 |website=[[YouTube]]}}</ref>, which in the 2000s was fatal for anyone's internet bills. The popularity of this game, mixed in with its preemptive cracking, and DRM led to the title holding the record as the most pirated video game.<ref name=":0" /> Additionally, there were lawsuits that formed over the implementation of SecuROM inside ''Spore.''<ref>http://www.courthousenews.com/2008/09/23/Spore.pdf</ref>

|Towards the tail-end of SecuROM's usage in 2019, [[Disney]] decided to terminate their license, thus leading to all legitimate copies of ''Tron: Evolution'' to be unplayable, and the game was subsequently pulled from digital software vendors.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Geigner |first=Timothy |date=6 Dec 2019 |title=Disney's Decision Not To Renew SecuROM License Bricks 'Tron: Evolution' |url=https://www.techdirt.com/2019/12/06/disneys-decision-not-to-renew-securom-license-bricks-tron-evolution/ |url-status=live |access-date=16 Mar 2025 |website=[[techdirt]]}}</ref> Disney claims to be currently updating the game to not have SecuROM, however after nearly six years since its termination, there has been no new updates upon whether the game will re-release