Spore
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| Basic Information | |
|---|---|
| Release Year | 2008 |
| Product Type | Video Games |
| In Production | No |
| Official Website | https://www.spore.com/ |
Spore is a life simulation real-time strategy god game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts in 2008 for Windows and Mac OS X.
Consumer impact summary
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Incidents
[edit | edit source]Digital Rights Management
[edit | edit source]Spore released on PC with an always-online SecuROM DRM,[1] requiring people to have an internet connection at all times despite Spore being a largely single-player experience.[2] While this modified DRM was implemented to prevent piracy, it had the opposite effect as hundreds of thousands flocked to peer-to-peer torrent sites like BitTorrent to illegally download the game. Spore is considered 2008's most pirated game with a recorded 500,000+ downloads on BitTorrent, though this number is estimated to have risen to be in the millions.[3]
Class action lawsuit (2008)
[edit | edit source]Three days after EA apologized for Spore's DRM controversy and increased the game's installation activation restrictions from three computers to five,[4] a lawsuit was brought against the company for quietly installing the SecuROM DRM onto the computers of anyone who had installed Spore without their explicit knowledge and without an easy removal process.[5] Other lawsuits were consolidated on 12 December 2008,[6] with the class action lawsuit being formally settled on 2 June 2010.[7] Among the terms of the settlement, EA was required to prominently disclose on retail packaging, its online store, and in the EULA whether SecuROM was included in EA's video games.[8] EA was also to provide support to consumers for uninstalling SecuROM.[8]
See also
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References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ Masnick, Mike (8 May 2008). "EA To Use Controversial Internet-Required DRM On New Games". techdirt. Archived from the original on 26 Nov 2022. Retrieved 7 Sep 2026.
- ↑ Heater, Brian (5 Sep 2009). "Spore". PCMag. Archived from the original on 28 Apr 2024. Retrieved 7 Sep 2026.
- ↑ Van der Sar, Ernesto (13 Sep 2008). "Spore: Most Pirated Game Ever Thanks to DRM". TorrentFreak. Archived from the original on 15 Nov 2025. Retrieved 7 Sep 2026.
- ↑ Schonfeld, Erick (14 Sep 2008). "Spore And The Great DRM Backlash". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 15 Sep 2008. Retrieved 7 Sep 2026.
- ↑ Milian, Mark (25 Sep 2008). "Spore SecuROM copy protection system draws lawsuit". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 5 Sep 2022. Retrieved 7 Sep 2026.
- ↑ Whyte, Ronald M. (12 Dec 2008). "Proposed related case order" (PDF). Court Listener. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 Sep 2026. Retrieved 7 Sep 2026.
- ↑ "Thomas v. Electronic Arts, Inc. (5:08-cv-04421)". Court Listener. 2 Jun 2010. Archived from the original on 7 Sep 2026. Retrieved 7 Sep 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Judhudson (13 Jan 2010). "EA to settle the SecuROM Class Action Lawsuit". worldsims. Archived from the original on 7 Dec 2025. Retrieved 7 Sep 2026.