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.
Piracy? I wanted to buy this game. After reading how EA intend to prevent piracy, I will not. And my guess is, a lot of "casual" players will also not.
What title like this makes successful is word to mouth. No go ahead and think about how bad it is, if enough people can't get it "activated".
Having played this game I appreciate it's a fantastic piece of work and will undoubtedly spawn multiple spin-offs as a new franchise for EA. It will do very well but in my opinion, the traditional PC market simply can not sustain sales of 9m, maybe not even 6m. Piracy is totally rampant, PC retail is in massive decline. The copies of this game purchased online will not count in the price of this stock.
I'd really like to hear from people who think this is going to sell 9m copies at retail? Are you just extrapolating from The Sims? Grave mistake in my opinion.
The question is, will they be far off? I will get this one, for sure. The question is more for PC or Wii. I don't know yet, but most likley PC (since it will have most likely more "features")
The GLS stock is reaching stratospheric levels once again. Is this just the usual phenomenon that occurs when we run up towards the release of the game, or has the downloads of the Creature Creator substantially changed people's predictions?
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