The sad thing is they don't even need to. One of the most compelling things about the game is the user-generated content, sharing (Sporecasts) and YouTube integration. These require a connection to EA servers so they could have simply validated copies each time transparently and rejected pirate versions.
This method will still get cracked and pirate copies will exist. It's just not going to sell anything like 8m at retail given the current state of the PC market for a plethora of reasons. A shame because it's a fantastic game from what I've played of it.
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The sad thing is they don't even need to. One of the most compelling things about the game is the user-generated content, sharing (Sporecasts) and YouTube integration. These require a connection to EA servers so they could have simply validated copies each time transparently and rejected pirate versions.
This method will still get cracked and pirate copies will exist. It's just not going to sell anything like 8m at retail given the current state of the PC market for a plethora of reasons. A shame because it's a fantastic game from what I've played of it.