2K Drops BioShock DRM
June 20, 2008 15:09
In what seems like a victory point in favor of the "honest" consumer, 2K Games announced Thursday that it had removed the activation restrictions for the PC version of BioShock. Now legitimate owners can re-install the game without limitations. According to the company, there will be no patch required to de-activate the restrictions; the limitations will be removed on the publisher's end.
"Our other methods of copy protection remain," wrote Elizabeth Tobey, 2K's community manager, in this forum post. "You will still have to activate your copy, and you will still need to keep the disc in the drive. SecuROM has not been removed - just the activation limits on number of installs and number of computers you can install BioShock on simultaneously."
The 2K Community Manager goes on to say that a patch would be released if and when 2K Games ceased support for BioShock so that the game would remain playable. "I believe, as you seem to, that BioShock will be the kind of game we will want to revisit 5, 10, 15 or more years from now. I want my copy to be playable, just as you do, and so does 2K," she added.
Previously 2K came under fire for enforcing limited installs for the PC version of BioShock, which gamers weren't warned about beforehand. While the limited activations (two initially, then upgraded to five) were part of the overall end-user complaint, accusations that Sony's SecuROM used rootkit technology was one of the bigger issues heating up forums.
However, 2K Games denied the existence of such rootkit, claiming that SecuROM was only hiding certain registry keys on the end-user's system. Consumers also complained that SecuROM installed itself without prior permission from the end-user, and its requirement was not mentioned anywhere on the box. Once SecuROM is installed, it cannot be uninstalled unless the entire operating system is formatted and re-installed.
While the SecuROM nightmares refuse to dissipate to this day, it seems that Ken Levine's original promise back in August 2007 to lift the installation limits finally came to fruition after almost a year. "At some point we'll move back from online activation," Levine told Joystiq last summer. "If people want to play BioShock 10 years from now, they'll be able to play it."
SecuROM has found its way back into headlines recently with the PC version of Mass Effect and the upcoming Will Wright title Spore, both of which are Electronic Arts titles. In addition to limiting the number of installations, the DRM software was initially going to require re-authentications online every 10 days. After an uproar from gamers and Mass Effect fans, BioWare announced that the 10-day authentication system would be removed from both titles. However, the installation limit is still in place.
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