We’ve known Microsoft’s thoughts on next-gen DRM enforcement (to leave it up to individual publishers) for a while now, but Sony only recently confirmed that it won’t be having any of it. However, the fact still stands that Sony cannot prevent third-party publishers from restricting the use/sale of their games, so there’s still a bit of a gray area. Luckily, that gray area has become a bit clearer thanks to a statement from EA (via Eurogamer) that at least partially details their thoughts on the infamously draconian DRM.
Patrick Söderlund, EA Games Label boss, recently clarified that EA doesn’t “have a problem with second-hand sales as they are today. We clearly articulated our stance when we abandoned the Online Pass .” On the subject, Söderlund explained that the decision to terminate the Online Pass system was “because we talked to people, our fans and our players, and they said, ‘Listen, we don’t want to play our games like this.’ We have to listen to them and we removed it. It’s that simple.”
EA provided a similar answer when questioned about its stance on secondhand sales: “We obviously have to look at what the first-parties are doing and follow any rules, but we have to scramble after these conferences and come back to what we think is right.” Continuing on, Söderlund asserted that EA’s “general thesis is what the fans tell us they want, we’ll give them.”
Pretty words, indeed, but we can only wait for the releases to start rolling to see how big a role DRMs will play across all publishers.
Source: Eurogamer