All EA Games from this point will be streamed... [Updated: Incorrect]

[Rapture]

Source One
Source Two

Electronic Arts’ policy of requiring its users to always be online when playing their games is going to continue but with a twist, confirmed Keith Ramsdale, the general manager of EA Northern Europe. This new version of the always online requirement will feature the implementation of “online universes,” where the games players purchase will exist on the servers rather than on one’s computer.

Ramsdale explained the new vision for EA’s always online policy.

Imagine a player gets up in the morning, plays an online match on his 360 before going to work. On the bus, on his way to work, he practices his free kicks on his tablet. At lunch he looks at the transfer window on his PC. On the way home he chooses his kit on his smartphone.

Here’s the thing: when he gets home to play again on his 360 that evening, all those achievements and upgrades will be alive in his game. We’re very focused on transforming all of our brands into these online universes. That gives the consumer full control of how and when they play in a rich world of content.

The new policy will be extended to all of EA’s franchises, including FIFA, Battlefield, Medal of Honor, The Sims, Need for Speed, and Star Wars games, among others.
Ramsdale did not give a timeframe for this policy change.

---

Analysis: Gaming’s a big business now, and that means that the stakes of piracy are much higher. For example, Crysis 2, last year’s most pirated game, reported an estimated 3,920,000 pirated copies, resulting in approximately $235,200,000 of lost income. Of course, it’s difficult to aggregate what percentage of pirates are actual lost customers, but when you’re losing $235 million dollars on a game from piracy, it doesn’t really matter anymore. The fact of the matter is that, even if only 10% of pirates were actual lost customers, then you’re still losing a painful $23 million due to piracy.

Crysis 2 wasn’t an anomaly, either. In 2011, games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3, FIFA 12, and Portal 2 all recorded estimate piracy levels of over 3 million copies, and it’s important to note that three of those games are titles that EA published.
So I think the message here is clear. Piracy is a real, veritable concern to any publisher releasing high-profile AAA games for the PC. Therefore, EA has a right and a business duty to be worried about piracy and to try and think of ways to fix this issue.

Now, before you all get your pitchforks and torches and storm my house saying that I’m pro-DRM, let me state for the record that I think, unequivocally, that EA’s always online policy is draconian, misguided, and repulsive. It’s a prime example of taking the wrong route of DRM; it’s punishing all of their players because of pirates rather than rewarding the paying customers for their patronage. It’s bad; it doesn’t work; it frustrates real customers; and I think that, ironically, it’s contributing to the piracy of their games rather than helping to correct the issue.

As such, when I hear of this new development in EA’s DRM policy, I can’t help but feel that this is one step forward and two steps back. On the one hand, EA is actually trying to ease the pain of the always online requirement by adding helpful and customer-positive features to it such as cross-platforming and cloud saving. However, in the process of doing this, EA not only misses the point again on why their DRM sucks, they also go in yet another completely misguided direction by taking away even more game ownership from customers. With this new policy, EA is not only continuing but expanding their practice of making customers jump through hoop after hoop to gain the content they paid for, and those who do brave the obstacles are being rewarded with less actual ownership of that content. You know what that means: customers are going to grow tired and frustrated with the draconian DRM and look to piracy to try and circumvent all the hassle. It’s a vicious cycle, isn’t it?

The fact of the matter is that you don’t “beat piracy,” and if that’s how you approach the issue, then you’re just going to frustrate everybody and get nowhere. What you really need to do is encourage people to be legitimate customers rather than pirates, and EA’s new policy most certainly does not attempt this in any shape or form.

Ultimately, I’m disheartened to hear this news. If EA keeps up the pace with their attempts to bludgeon users into buying and using the game exactly how the company wants, then I think their future with the PC market might be pretty bleak.

Scapegoating piracy as justification so they can control their consumers even more. Typical. They truly are a god-awful company. Also, as someone quoted under the article...

The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting antipiracy technology to work. It’s by giving those people a service that’s better than what they’re receiving from the pirates.- Gabe Newell

Update: The first source states...

EDIT – 4/24/2012: An earlier version of this article stated that Electronic Arts would have the games stored on their servers, instead of just elements. This is not accurate. We apologize for this inaccuracy. – CEB

[Acid Snake]

Fuck you, EA.

[Vulgotha]

Are they insane? And what does this streaming mean? Does it mean that we can't make use of the dedicated hardware on our PC to render and tweak the game? Like OnLive? (Preset graphics and resolution rendered server side)?

This is completely insane.

[HellsJester]

Its times like this where im happy i made the decision not to buy EA games ever again.
JOIN ME MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS!!!

[Vulgotha]

I think I read this wrong.. I think they're only talking about expansions and game items purchased..

Even so, your purchase now has zero value once EA turns off that server or removes that feature. Entirely useless.

[Thorzilla]

And those are the games I WON'T buy. I'll continue to buy the EA games I find worthy though. EA have changed their reputation in my head this gen, but these kind of things start to steer them towards Activisioness.

[admartian]

And those are the games I WON'T buy. I'll continue to buy the EA games I find worthy though. EA have changed their reputation in my head this gen, but these kind of things start to steer them towards Activisioness.

I'm in the same boat. I thought EA has done fairly well this gen, at least in terms of reputation.

But it's moves like these that set them back.

[Rapture]

I think I read this wrong.. I think they're only talking about expansions and game items purchased..

Even so, your purchase now has zero value once EA turns off that server or removes that feature. Entirely useless.

This new version of the always online requirement will feature the implementation of “online universes,” where the games players purchase will exist on the servers rather than on one’s computer.

It was rather vague in that aspect. I doubt they mean complete external playing in the same way OnLive functions. It may be as a simple as elements of the game being streamed to the RAM while 9x% of the files on the harddrive are loaded to culmination. Still, whatever exactly this is it's still a step back for consumers as it further removes their power over the products they've bought. We know EA won't stop here, and somehow their consumers will be fucked over by this at some point, like EA pulling the servers at a later date or their infrastructure crippling under stress at times.

[*goo]

They lost me with Origin but this further step will likely lose more custom.


Obligatory TapaTalk signature.

[$Greatness$]

Fuck you, EA.

[keefy]

Must be why they made that deal with Gaikai last year.

[Dave-The-Rave]

Im happy enough, means I don't need an insane PC.

All PC games should do this.

[Vulgotha]

No. Just.. No.

[John25]

lol you would think Piracy just Happened Overnight with their BS Methods/reasons

[procion]

EA: Purveyors of lame games, AND purveyors of weak, self-interested lame policies that only feeds the pirating habit, to go with it. EA have become part of the corporate industial military complex that Eisenhower tried to warn us about at the end of his tenure... FACT, as for Activision, I know of one person whom works there who is itching to become part of that complex, going by their behaviour alone... EVIL

[procion]

EA: Purveyors of lame games, AND purveyors of weak, self-interested lame policies that only feeds the pirating habit, to go with it. EA have become part of the corporate industial military complex that Eisenhower tried to warn us about at the end of his tenure... FACT, as for Activision, I know of one person whom works there who is itching to become part of that complex, going by their behaviour alone... EVIL

[the_jim]

This is rediculous. There needs to be some form of governing body to stop this. As somebody posted above, when they decide to pull the servers, it makes the product useless. I'm glad I have no interest in the shovelware EA make anyway.

EA logic =
Self-interested lame policies = Less piracy = More profits

My Logic=
Self-interested lame policies = Less Sales = Less profits

The worst part is that they sugarcoat it like they are doing this for us. I mean changing your kit on the train... wow! Thanks EA. Locked/ inaccessible content is so much more of a problem.

[AaronSOLDIER]

Haven't bought a single EA game this gen.

[BoyBettaKnow]

"All EA Games from this point on will be streamed from the cloud. No local copies."

Funnily enough, there won't be any local copies on my machine either.

[Yuuichi]

Fuck you, EA.

Thats right EA fuck you in the ass with no lube.

[Varsh]

First Ubisoft and now EA, that's two companies I have now officially boycotted.

[Beast of Bourbon]

Kinda makes me glad im a console gamer. At least we get discs...

Pc-Gamers are getting screwed left and right atm

Tapatalkin'

[Nuvian]

This thread makes my head hurt.

Its a good thing that EA doesn't control any of my favorite PC IP's.

[keefy]

The articles are misleading its just a service like Steam cloud which keeps game saves and control configs on the servers along with the most important thing achievements also i think it means stats and unlocks in BF3/4 etc carry over from xbox to ps3 to PC.

[dreams]

That's messed. They should know that they can never stop piracy no matter how hard they try.