Since the launch of the Sony game BioShock, there has been a considerable uproar about its installation policy as a result of the new SecuROM copy protection software it uses. Like Microsoft Windows XP & Vista, the game requires product activation. After two installations, only manual activation by contacting support was allowed.
While the license agreement mentioned that one could use one copy of the software for their own personal use on a single console, there is no mention in the game's license agreement or activation error message about the number of installations one is entitled to, never mind any limit or DRM control at all. Despite what the community manager at a 2K games forum initially mentioned, uninstalling the game from one PC does not entitle the user to another activation. This means that once the game had been installed twice, if one or both installations were removed, it would not have been possible to install and activate the game on any other PC without contacting support. Going by Tom's Hardware Guide, the support numbers provided on BioShock's packaging did not work, however, new support numbers were published on the forum and 2K later upped the maximum installation limit from 2 to 5.
To show how frustrating product activation can get, 2K Game’s suffered an activation server crash on last Thursday, which affected the launch of BioShock in Australia. Its official website timed out most of the day as a result of the heavy traffic from users trying to solve their activation issue. While 2K plans offering a revoke application to allow a game to be uninstalled to install on another PC or after a significant hardware upgrade, this is of little use to customers who already reinstalled the game several times trying to get it to work. Finally, while game demos are usually designed to be shared around for people to try a game before buying it, apparently even the demo of BioShock was infected with SecuROM DRM.
While five activations may seem like plenty, just reinstalling the game on the same PC uses up another activation. Changing the motherboard, hard drive or reinstalling Windows will cause the software to require reactivation. In the end, going by an interview with Joystiq, the BioShock game creator Levine apologised for the “screw-ups” and the company would move back from online activation at some point.
Those interested can read the full in-depth article here on TwitchGuru. Thanks to Lenco for letting us know about this news.
